Galatasaray rescues ex-Ivorian star Emmanuel Eboue after bitter, suicidal divorce

[Abdullah719]

Turkish club Galatasaray have offered to employ their former player and Ivorian International Emmanuel Eboue. The club is reported to have offered the player the role of an assistant coach for their under 14 side.

The story of Eboue’s financial and familial woes was headlines over the weekend after the U.K. Mirror reported that the club-less defender was on the brink of suicide after losing all his earnings in a bitter divorce case.

A soccer website, Futbolarena Turkey, said Eboue will begin work as he aims to obtain a coaching licence. The Istanbul side will rope him in, give him an accommodation and a decent salary as he works his way up the ladder.

He had a playing stint with the Turkish giants between 2011 and 2016 having transferred from Arsenal. He played 77 games and score four goals during his stay.

The ex-Arsenal man admitted to being pushed on the brink of committing suicide given the turn of events. “I want God to help me,” he says. “Only he can help take these thoughts from my mind,” he told the Sunday Mirror.

He said a court has awarded all his earnings to his estranged wife adding that he has not seen his children since June this year. He is currently unable to play due to ill-health and also has a FIFA ban around his neck after a row with his agent.

The player said he had no money to hire a lawyer and bailiffs were after him to serve him with documents to hand over his apartment to his wife.

According to him, to evade the court officials, he had resorted to sleeping on a mattress at the home of a friend and that whenever he was home, he turned the lights off and packed all his remaining belongings behind the door.

“I can’t afford the money to continue to have any lawyer or barrister. I am in the house but I am scared. Because I don’t know what time the police will come. Sometimes I shut off the lights because I don’t want people to know that I am inside. I put everything behind the door,” he said.

He admits to being naive with money and signing all documents that his wife presented to him. He adds that he more often than not signed bank documents without knowing exactly what they said or meant. His wife Aurelie has yet to respond to the allegations.

http://www.africanews.com/2017/12/2...ian-star-eboue-after-bitter-suicidal-divorce/

 

[Abdullah719]

Skint ex-Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue hides from bailiffs, sleeps on pal's floor and can't afford washing machine

Eleven years ago he was lining up to take part in the biggest club match in world football.

During an illustrious seven-year career in the Premier League , he pocketed millions of pounds in wages, lived in a mansion and drove flashy cars.

Now ex-Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue 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.

Today, the 34-year-old tells how his staggering riches-to-rags plight has pushed him to the brink of suicide.

“I want God to help me,” he says. “Only he can help take these thoughts from my mind.”

To listen to Eboue open his heart is as harrowing as it is shocking.

He wants to talk openly and honestly in a bid to encourage others going through the same ordeal to open up.

The Sunday Mirror, through its Time To Change campaign, has been battling for the past six years to smash the stigma associated with the mental ill health with which Eboue is now suffering.

At the peak of his career with Arsenal he became a fans’ favourite. He was part of the side that faced Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final.

Arsenal lost but Eboue remains a cult-hero at the Emirates Stadium, as much for his happy demeanour and his goal celebrations as the ability which saw him help the Ivory Coast reach the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Final.

That joy, however, has been replaced by tears – and a deep fear of the future.

Eboue, currently unable to play football because of ill-health, says he has been pushed to the brink. He has:

1. Lost a bitter divorce battle, with his wife Aurelie awarded all of their assets.
2. Had to hide from cops and bailiffs after being ordered by a judge to transfer his remaining Enfield home to his wife.
3. Faced a heartbreaking estrangement from his three kids, who he has not seen since June.
4. Been grieving after the cancer death of grandfather Amadou Bertin – who raised him – and the loss of his brother N’Dri Serge, killed in a motorbike accident.

It is now three weeks since a deadline passed for Eboue to surrender ownership of the North London home he used to share with Aurelie.

A judge will sign the transfer if Eboue does not do so.

The player and his wife lived there in happier times before Eboue bought a mansion – which Aurelie has now put on the market.

He understands she will rent out the Enfield property.

So Eboue, his belongings in bags, now awaits the knock that will see him ordered to leave at any time.

The worried star said: “I can’t afford the money to continue to have any lawyer or barrister.

"I am in the house but I am scared. Because I don’t know what time the police will come.

“Sometimes I shut off the lights because I don’t want people to know that I am inside. I put everything behind the door.

"My own house. I suffered to buy my house but I am now scared.

“I am not going to sell my clothes or sell what I have. I will fight until the end because it is not fair.”

Eboue has taken a huge fall from the days he netted millions at Arsenal and then more than £1.5million a year at Turkish side Galatasaray.

His dream of a Premier League return with Sunderland evaporated last year, however, after he was hit with a 12-month ban by FIFA after a dispute with a former agent.

Eboue says he was never given *guidance to manage his finances.

Insisting his wife looked after most of their affairs, he admits being “naive” with money.

He also claims he was beset by a string of people who gave bad advice and lost him huge sums.

With a limited *education, Eboue is paying the price for being unaware of his financial situation. His handful of visits to the bank were with Aurelie.

Eboue even recalls an occasion when bank staff visited him – to sign paperwork – at Arsenal’s training ground.

And he now wants other young African footballers to learn from his mistakes.

He says: “I look back and say *‘Emmanuel, you have been naive... why didn’t you think about that before?’ It is hard.

"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.”

Having surrendered the cars among assets transferred to his wife, Eboue now has an Oyster card and relies on London transport – while doing his best to avoid being recognised.

He splits his time between the Enfield house and the home of a *confidante he calls his “sister” – Yasmin Razak.

He often sleeps on a mattress on her living room floor.

But even watching TV – and seeing the likes of former team-mate Thierry Henry as a football pundit – triggers negative thoughts.

He adds: “When I see Thierry I feel happy for him but ashamed of my own situation.

"When I see friends on TV that I played with or against I say to myself ‘I should still be there’. It’s hard to watch them.”

Both Yasmin and another close pal, ex-Portsmouth and Newcastle striker Lomana Lua Lua, have been crucial in helping Eboue stay afloat.

Of Yasmin, he said: “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.”

Eboue is devastated at spending Christmas apart from his own kids, daughters Clara, 14, and Maeva, 12, and son Mathis, nine.

He goes on: “It hurts me a lot. They used to call me. But now, no contact. It pains me to be alone without them.”

Eboue has been left without so much as a washing machine.

But he won’t be beaten, saying: “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.”

While Eboue wants to return to playing one day, he would jump at the chance of working with former club Arsenal or players’ union the PFA.

He says: “I would accept help from anywhere but if my previous club wants to help me then I would be very, very happy. Maybe I could help the young players?

“The PFA helped me when I had my problems with my agent. If they gave me a job, even if it wasn’t a big, big job.

“Maybe I’d see some of the people I played with or against and I’d feel embarrassed. But I would cope.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-emmanuel-eboue-skint-bailiffs-11746303

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

Was his wife a gold digger?

 

[Pakistanian]

The laws are so rigged against men.

 

[LongHorn]

I don't understand it as I have seen it in other cases as well; how can courts grant the home to the wife and allow her to kick the man out?

 

[s28]

The law is a donkey

They go on about sharia but UK divorce laws are some of the most draconian and foolish around. How can a father not be allowed to see his own children. This lack of male role models in children's lives are the major cause of most of societies ills. Next time there is a terrorist outrage just take note of the family circumstances of the perpetrator. Frequently they come from broken homes and have lacked positive male role models. Of course the media does it's best to keep such information secret. Does not suit their 'liberal' agendas.

 

[Eagle_Eye]

I don't understand it as I have seen it in other cases as well; how can courts grant the home to the wife and allow her to kick the man out?

If there is history of violence then they do. Ebuoe is clearly playing up a cooked up version, at most his wife would get 50/50 not everything and only it was considered to be a long marriage. I am no legal expert, though I know someone going through divorce right now including custody battle. It gets very ugly and lawyers have a field day dragging everything out.

Be it a man or woman whoever has more money ends up in a disadvantage, because they will be forking out to the other side.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

A mentally ill and bitter bloke tells his side of a divorce story to a tabloid rag and people just accept it as gospel? Sorry but there is always 2 sides to a messy divorce story.

Nevertheless, I wish Eboue all the best in getting back onto his feet.

 

[s28]

This two sides nonsense is sort of trash Trump and Zionist defenders of Israel in the media come out with.

Swear if David and Goliath happened today they would dress it up as Goliath being the victim.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

From Eboue to Trump, Israel and Zionists. Brilliant.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

From Eboue to Trump, Israel and Zionists. Brilliant.

I'll wager it wasn't intended for this thread ..