'When you're in trouble, you don't want other people to know.'
Aaron Lennon warned us and now Luis Garcia is doing the same. Lennon was at the side of a busy thoroughfare close to the M602 motorway in Manchester nearly two years ago and police officers believed he was in a precarious situation.
The Burnley winger has recently said he has recovered from a stress-related illness after being detained under the Mental Health Act, but his message was clear. He was not alone. He thought other players were suffering in silence.
Luis Garcia was not struggling during his playing nor is he now but he knows some players are
The former Reds star had a support network around him when he was going through a divorce
Garcia was not struggling severely during his playing days nor is he now. He has not had problems with drugs, gambling or alcohol like many players and ex-players do.
The former Liverpool striker was fortunate to have a support network around him when he was going through a difficult divorce but this is the sort of issue that players do not regularly speak about.
'We talked about all kinds of things but not about feelings,' said Garcia.
'Maybe if you spoke to a close friend, you could talk about it openly. I remembered a few conversations with guys who were gambling and they were winning all the time, which was strange.
'They always said when they won but not when they lost. We saw they were betting on horses, other games, NFL games.
'In terms of betting, they knew they could arrive in a moment of trouble and they didn't want people to know that you're in trouble.'
Former Liverpool star Garcia was speaking at an event on behalf of charity BeGambleAware
Ex-Arsenal player Paul Merson recently broke down during an interview confessing that he sunk back into the horrors of his gambling addiction.
But it isn't just in football that men don't talk about their difficulties, it's a national crisis.
In the UK, 76 per cent of suicides are by men and suicide is the biggest cause of death for men under 35 according to the Office for National Statistics.
But in football, in particular, it seems to be difficult for young men to open up about their struggles.
'It will sometimes look like you are weak, that you're not in control,' Garcia, who was speaking on behalf of charity BeGambleAware, said reluctantly.
'When you are in the football business and you have so much stuff in your head: training, playing or not playing, being involved in the games or you have a problem with a mate inside the dressing room.
'This kind of stuff can be messy and you have to look strong most of the time.
'I would probably go to mates I have had since I was a kid, when I was in trouble I would go to talk to them.
Garcia (second from the left) is studying for a masters degree and doing his coaching badges
'If I had one of those problems though, like gambling, would I have gone to them? I don't know.
'I have been lucky, I didn't have problems like that. I got divorced, and I went to speak to them [my mates], not even my family. It was a big deal and I went to them to talk about it.'
The former
