Love is a beautiful thing! The invisible remote that control lovers cannot be control except when heartbreak appears like satan. For Emmanuel Eboue, a once upon a time Arsenal cult hero, love and bad investment have crippled him. He was naïve to full understand the game of life and greed. The end result was disaster waiting to happen.
It has always been Belgian wife, Aurélie, mother of their three children, Mathis plus daughters, Clara and Maeva. In 2016, when things were getting worse, Eboue made a confession: He was indebted to the unwavering support of Aurélie, “Aurélie is very supportive,” Eboué said. “It’s not easy for her. I’ve been hard to live with.”
The money he had earned when everything was rosy was sent to his wife, everything he was asked to sign, he did signed. He was the abroad African who never knew that getting a divorce in the UK could be suicidal. When he was drenched and covered in debts he couldn’t pay, the house came crumbling. Love started getting sour, anger rose, regrets appeared and divorce was the saviour. Unfortunately, Eboue was the one to kiss the dust when the chips were down.
He contemplated suicide. There were occasions when he locked himself in his bedroom for a day or two at a time and can’t bring himself to come out.
“Sometimes I shut off the lights because I don’t want people to know that I am inside. I put everything behind the door.I am in the house but I am scared. Because I don’t know what time the police will come. I look back and say ‘Emmanuel, you have been naive… why didn’t you think about that before?’ It is hard.
“There are a lot of days when I don’t feel like getting out of bed,” he says. “One day I wanted to kill myself. My family keep me strong, it’s them that I have to think about but if I was alone, I worry about what I’d have done to myself by now.
Seven years, in the Premier League saw him pocketed millions of pounds in wages, spoke and people responded, lived in a mansion and drove flashy cars. Today, everything has gone down the drain. He spends his days hiding from ¬bailiffs, sometimes sleeps on the floor of a friend’s home, travels by bus and even cleans his clothes by hand because he has no washing machine
Who do we blame?
There were happier moments he spent with his wife and family. His limited educational background punished him. Aurelie was the smart one! She takes him to the bank for withdrawal and transactions.
Aurelie was in charge of their affairs because he was “naive” with money. He only knew how to spend but was unable to do big things with money. He was never given guidance to manage his finances.
To compound his woes, he surrounded himself with people who gave bad advice and lost him huge sums. He has lost his family, mind and career!
“In Turkey I earned eight million euros. I sent seven million back home. Whatever she tells me to sign, I sign.
He has one prayer: “I pray every day. I want God to help me. To help me to take it out of my head. I don’t want to think about suicidal thoughts.”
The good news, Galatasary have offered Eboue a lifeline. The Turkish giants said they would hand an academy coaching role. We hope this comes true!
