Jan Bednarek has been speaking about why he has left St Mary's and has claimed his mental health was the primary driver, read on to find out what he has been saying.
In an interview with Meczyki, he said:
"Staying at Southampton, I was definitely in a worse place mentally. I needed it [move away]. I was coming back home tired and angry. I wasn't my real self. Now, the old Janek is back. I'm happy and content."
Those who saw the Polish International playing in pre season could tell that he was definitely angry, against Watford he spent most of the game berating his team mates Mohammed Salisu & Armel Bella-Kotchap and had to be almost forced to join the rest of the squad who went over to acknowledge the Saints supporters after the game.
Since going to Aston Villa on loan he has managed just 86 minutes competitive football for the Midlands club, less than he played for Saints on the opening day of the season, he came on as a second half sub for Villa in a 0-0 draw with Leeds United and then after starting the next game against Fulham was hauled off at half time.
These were his first games in 6 weeks after leaving Saints at the end of August and so far under Unai Emery he has not had any game time the new manager leaving him on the bench.
Despite this and not having played a full game in the Premier League since the opening day of the season at Spurs in a 4-1 defeat he has managed to get picked for the Poland World cup squad.
He went on to reveal he had had to seek help with a psychologist:
"I was working with a psychologist. He helped me a lot. A change of club was the only solution. I didn't make that decision myself. Close ones and experts helped me.
"I don't want to say whether it was depression. Maybe it was. We didn't try to look for a diagnosis. We tried to find a solution."
"People have worse problems than me, but this was my problem. Of course, time heals wounds and in this moment, things are better and I'm moving forward. I'm happy."
He doesn't elaborate on just what type of issues he was having at the time, from this perspective i am not going to comment too much, mental health is a something not to be sneered about, but he did get one thing right in, with rising prices, there are those with worse problems than him, at this moment in time there are many who have much more to worry about than a man earning more in a single week, than the majority in a football stadium who watch him earn in 2-3 years.