From playing in the Champions League final to sleeping on a friend's floor

Emmanuel Eboue is something of a cult hero at Arsenal. His style was unorthodox, he was infamously substituted after coming on as a sub himself but his heart was always in the right place.

The Ivory Coast international was a popular figure during his seven-year stay with the 'Gunners' between 2004 and 2011, with the pinnacle of his career coming when he played in the 2006 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona.

However, despite earning millions during his Premier League career, living like a king and playing the game that he loves, the Ivory Coast international revealed in an interview with English publication 'The Mirror' that financial problems and a bitter divorce have left him considering taking his own life, showing that no one is immune from dark thoughts.

The separtion led to former wife Aurelie being awarded all of Eboue's assets, with the defender being estranged from his children since divorce proceedings were filed.

To make matters worse, Eboue has also been coming to terms with the deaths of his granfather Amadou Bertin, who raised him, and brother N´Dri Serge, leaving him a broken man.

'I want God to help me. Only he can help take these [suicidal] thoughts from my mind. It hurts me a lot [not to see his children]. They used to call me. But now, no contact. It pains me to be alone without them,' Eboue lamented.

The defender admitted that he was naive with his fortune, allowing his ex-wife to control his financial affairs and letitng hangers-on bleed him dry and he hopes that his story will act as a cautionary tale for other players who find themselves in his position.

 “I look back and say ­‘Emmanuel, you have been naive... why didn’t you think about that before?’ It is hard,' he explained.

"Very, very hard. The money I earned, I sent it to my wife for our children.

“In Turkey I earned eight million euros. I sent seven million back home. Whatever she tells me to sign, I sign.

"She is my wife. The problems with FIFA were because of people advising me. People who are supposed to care. But it was because of them FIFA banned me.”

Such is Eboue's plight that he now sleeps on a friend's floor and washes his clothes by hand every day.

“I call her house The Bunker. I can hide there. She has children. I don’t want to disturb them, so I sleep on the floor.

 “Every day I wash my jeans, my clothes, everything. My hands are hard. As though I have been working on a farm.

“I thank my grandmother because she taught me to wash, cook, clean, everything as a young man.

“I continue to thank God. I have my life. I didn’t want what has happened. I don’t wish it on anybody.”