Former Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu has defined the painful causes behind him working in a French sport store simply six years after retiring.
The 42-year-old was as soon as one in every of his nation’s best centre-backs and helped the Catalan membership to two LaLiga titles, two Spanish Cups and European glory throughout a profitable profession.
However Mathieu’s life is drastically completely different now to the one he lived as a prime footballer.
Final yr, followers have been shocked to see him working at Intersport, a serious chain of sport retailers in his homeland, as a supervisor of their soccer division in a department between Aix-en-Provence and Marseille.
{A photograph} of the ex-Barcelona defender sporting firm uniform and pictured with clients was shared on-line, prompting hordes of followers to go to the store to see him.
Mathieu reportedly earned £100,000-a-week at Barcelona, so it was a shock to see him working a traditional job after hanging up his boots.
Former Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu (centre) now works as a store assistant in France
However he has now spoken to beIN Sports activities about how he has struggled in his life after soccer, alluding to monetary difficulties and admitting his psychological well being deteriorated.
Mathieu mentioned: ‘If I am working at Intersport, it is as a result of one thing’s occurring that is inflicting me lots of issues.
‘I can solely say that I am in the midst of a lawsuit. I cannot do it eternally. It was to have a social life.’
The Frenchman has additionally been battling melancholy and mentioned it’s one thing he has not ‘absolutely’ recovered from.
A former team-mate of Mathieu, Loïc Loval-Landré, was capable of assist him discover the job to get him out of the home and in a social surroundings.
Mathieu revealed: ‘He knew I needed to go away the home for a bit, I had been doing nothing for some time. We have been chatting, and he informed me there was a vacant place.’
He referred to as time on his profession after a nasty knee damage whereas taking part in for Sporting Lisbon on the age of 36 in 2020.
Mathieu got here off the bench throughout Barcelona’s Champions League ultimate triumph towards Juventus in 2015, serving to his facet to a 3-1 victory which confirmed an iconic Treble underneath former supervisor Luis Enrique.
Mathieu, pictured with Luis Suarez, additionally received two LaLiga titles throughout his three years at Barca
Though he was primarily used as back-up for first group centre-halves Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique, the Frenchman’s versatility and expertise was valued vastly by Enrique, who usually used him as cowl for Jordi Alba at left-back too.
When requested about his time on the membership, he mirrored that his abiding reminiscence was of Lionel Messi’s genius.
‘Messi was unbelievable. In coaching, you couldn’t do something. I feel I used to be a greater free-kick taker,’ he added with a smile.
Regardless of profitable nearly all of his honours at Barcelona, Mathieu performed a lot of his profession at fellow LaLiga outfit Valencia — the place he made 177 appearances in all competitions.
