AARON LENNON

It is a real shame that footballers are subject to such intense public scrutiny and of course my heart went out to dear Aaron Lennon, who was taken from a street in Salford yesterday, "for his own good" under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

Aaron, at only 30 years old, is clearly not himself and he has been given safety in one form or another as the world of football wraps itself around him.
Here is a link for you to hear a response to the news.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/10863087/aaron-lennons-stress-related-illness-prompts-premier-league-response

At 14 years old Aaron from Chapeltown, Leeds, was the youngest footballer to be given a boot sponsorship deal and he signed on at Leeds United as their youngest professional at 16 years and 129 days in 2003.

He was sold by the club to Spurs for a measley £1 million in 2005, taking a pay cut to boot. he stayed there for 10 years nearly and played 266 times, winning a League Cup and getting into Europe. He was a nominee for Young Player of the Year in 2006, the year that Rooney won.

He also played for England under Sven and Fabio winning 21 caps.

At Spurs, Pochetinno did not see Aaron in his plans and was not given a squad number and had to train with the youth team. So he was sold to Everton after a loan spell. He was under Martinez originally, signed forms for £4.5 million in September 2015 and then was managed by Koeman. By now Everton were into 4-3-3, so no room for wingers, playing only a handful of minutes in the first two months of the season.

At 30 years old, a lack of game time caused issues with his fitness and so he started to fail. Stress kicked in and whilst there are plenty of back up schemes in the PFA, identifying such mental illness is not easy. There are plenty of professionals who will send their best wishes to him (you only have to read social media) and many who have been there.

We only have to think of Stan Collymore, Ray Wilkins (here's a link for you http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/13-very-eccentric-ray-wilkins-10359828,) Paul Gascoigne, Clark Carlisle, Rio Ferdinand and it goes on. Let us hope Aaron gets back to full fitness.