Las Palmas midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has revealed that he was quite the party animal when he was a player at Tottenham Hotspur.
The 29-year-old has played for Borussia Dortmund (loan from Spurs), Portsmouth, AC Milan, and Shalke 04 since leaving White Hart Lane. And speaking in an interview with The Guardian's Sid Lowe, he claimed that his manager's rejection and marriage separation left him with no other choice but to party all night.
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Fortunately, realisation hit him one morning when he woke up as a 20-year-old and looked in the mirror.
"I looked old," he said, thinking back to one year after his 2007 move to Tottenham.
Every night I was out until six. I was like 95 kilos, swollen from the drinking and bad food.
"I said: ˜This can't be me, I don't want to be that guy. I have something inside: I'm a football player.' I called my friends, two real friends, and they came. Together, we cleaned out my fridge and the house.
"That day, I said: ˜No, stop it.' I didn't drink. I didn't go out. I started cooking; I wanted to eat healthily. From one day to the next.� Boateng clicks his fingers. If I did it slowly, maybe I wouldn't do it. I needed a clean break.�
Martin Jol told me he didn't want me after a month. So, it became me against the world. You know when you shut off? That was me. ˜You don't want me? I'll enjoy life.'
"I realise now how bad it was: six days a week nightclubbing, drinking for almost a year. But I was only 20. You don't think things are going wrong. You see money coming in. ˜OK, I get my fun somewhere else.' Girls, nightclubs, friends ¦ Fake friends.�
I left my home, family, all my friends, then my ex-wife left me and I was totally alone. I had friends but not real friends who'll tell you: ˜What are you doing? Go and train.' No. It's: ˜Let's go out.'� And at the time, [I thought] I needed that. The release, someone to talk to.
Fans don't care what's in your private life, what happened in your past, where you come from. If you don't perform they judge. I was the same, a fan judging Hertha Berlin players. That will never change.
"You're a number in this system. You cost money, if you don't work, they change the number. I had to learn to understand that; when I was 20 I didn't.�
Boateng did win the League Cup with Spurs, and also won the Serie A title with Milan. But as far as achievements go, that's about all he has accomplished so far.
Perhaps a more serious approach in his younger days could have seen him achieve much more, as he is still quite a talent.