Bacary Sagna lost his brother when he was playing for Arsenal in 2008 and has told the Reds said: “I advise them to speak up. This is something I didn’t do and it had an impact on me, so I know how it feels.”
Bacary Sagna knows from painful experience just how difficult it is to even attempt to play football after losing a loved one. The Frenchman tried and failed after his older brother, Omar, died a day before his 28th birthday in February 2008.
So Sagna has massive sympathy for the Liverpool players who will attempt to focus their minds on sport after losing Diogo Jota, earlier this month.
“We are human beings first,” said the ex-Arsenal and Manchester City defender. “We spend more time with our fellow players than we spend with our own wives and kids. So its going to be difficult. I don’t see them performing as well as they did last season because first of all they were Champions – and to reproduce that level of performance back to back is difficult.
“But much more importantly, after losing someone dear at the club, a brother, I want to call him, I can’t see it.
“So I have big, big support for his family, for his entourage, for his wife and kids and for Liverpool football club. It is not easy.”
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Portuguese forward Jota and his brother Andre were killed in a car accident in north west Spain on July 3. His grieving Liverpool team-mates are back in pre-season, preparing to fulfil their sporting obligations through their tears when the new Premier League season kicks off next month.
Sagna wishes he prioritised therapy and emotional stability instead of continuing to play.
“I lost brother in 2008 when I was at Arsenal,” he said. “It was my second season. “My brain was not here. I started making mistakes. Schoolboy mistakes. To control the ball was difficult. My brain was in slow motion.
“So some of the players might come and be in the same mindset. They might not have their heads into football because they will constantly think about it.
“In the dressing room one space will be free. Lunchtime, one space will be free. On the bus, one space will be free. So, I clearly advise them to speak up. This is something I didn’t do and it had an impact on me, so I know how it feels.”
Liverpool’s commitment to the mental health of their players and staff remains second to none. A city used to dealing with trauma has wrapped its arms around a club in mourning. With Jota counting Wolves among his former clubs, Sagna believes the emotion will be felt way beyond Anfield when the Premier League returns.
“I think it will have an impact on football in general,” he went on. “On the Premier League, on players’ approach to the game and on the way the players will get back into their training sessions.
“Because as a human being he was loved. Respected also.”
Sagna believes counselling will be key as Liverpool’s players and staff try to make sense of it all.
“One hundred percent,” he added. “It might be a case of ‘We’re fine’ but you need to process it. You need to open up about it. The mistake I made was to try to avoid talking about it. I was getting upset but it was a mistake – you have to let things out before you can even perform and let your football out.
“I was personally lucky because we had at the time a psychologist with the Arsenal team. When I lost my brother my dad called me unexpectedly. I remember we had a game, a Champions League second leg tie against AC Milan at home.
“I went back to France and I was just shocked. I was not even crying much. I felt like I was in the Matrix. I didn’t know what was happening. I was shocked. My brain was paralysed. I couldn’t think any more. I was going to go to the funeral but my dad advised me to come back because having that social pressure would have been difficult. So I didn’t go to the funeral, my family went. I came back to Arsenal.
“Arsene Wenger was very supportive, the club and the players too. But when I got back I got injured, against Chelsea. Nobody had tackled me. I think it was all related because the clearance I was making as I picked up the injury, I’d made it many times. But on that occasion I got injured. It was to do with my mental state.
“I had the feeling that I went from the best right back in the league to average. Then you had the judgement of people who didn’t know. But how could they know? I didn’t explain, I didn’t speak out. But one day the club psychologist came to my room. He asked if he could come in and I let him.
“We sat on the bed and I’m like: ‘Are you okay??’ It was me asking the questions instead of the other way around!
“He said: ‘The reason I’m coming to see you is that I can see you have an empty look.’ I was like: ‘What do you mean?’ He said: ‘I’ve been overseeing you for some time. You are here but you are not here.” I was like: ‘But why would you say that?’
“I then learned a lot about myself. I was operating like a machine. I was leaving home, going to training sessions but I could not even tell you how I got there. He explained what a psychologist does and how I could identify myself as a human being, how I can remember the past and turn it into positives.
“So I believe the players at Liverpool can try and do the same. It is so important.”
Sagna’s breakthrough was all the more important because of the cultural barriers that had stopped him from discussing his private life outside his immediate circle.
“Its funny because I was against psychologists,” he went on. “So when people suggested I go to one I was like: ‘Listen guys, do you want me to go and face a stranger and tell him my story? He doesn’t know me!’ ‘Why would I open up to a stranger that studied and learned from a book?
“That was my answer. But I can guarantee you will feel the love. Because they give you love, they understand you. Its an open book. We talk about life, we talk about many things and most importantly, I felt a relief. I felt lighter.
“I asked myself why I didn’t go earlier! But I didn’t have the courage. I didn’t measure the importance of speaking up. But they meet so many people. They hear so many stories. Its really important.”
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