Former Newcastle player Daryl Janmaat talks about his struggle with cocaine addiction after ending his career

Former Newcastle and Watford defender Daryl Janmaat has spoken about his battle with addiction after retiring from professional football.

Idman.Biz reports that it is about cocaine addiction.

"I have three children who hear and read everything. I can’t and don’t want to go into all the details, but my addiction did me a lot of damage. I should have gotten help, but I was abandoned. Suddenly I lost everything. It was difficult. The addiction gradually spread. You start lying to the people you love. It’s terrible. I hurt a lot of people.

The problems started after I ended my career. As a player, everything was under control: you go from training to training, from match to match. When all this disappeared, I felt completely out of place; everything went backwards. Very strongly.

I’m still officially married, but we’re no longer together. Things weren’t going well in our relationship, but the addiction didn’t help either, although we’re on good terms again. Drugs destroy everything. My family and friends were there for me, but I disappointed a lot of people. You start lying and distorting facts. It’s exhausting, but most of all it’s incredibly painful.

I was in danger. There were moments when I was really in a bad situation. As a player, I had everything and I still have everything. But a lot has happened during this time. Addiction is a real struggle when you are on the verge of despair. Literally. You fight and it really destroys a lot. After that, I went in a different direction. In the right direction. Fortunately," - the Mirror quotes Janmaat.