FC Bayern: Benjamin Pavard admits depressive phase

Bayern Munich defender

“Few people know what I’ve been through,” said Benjamin Pavard from FC Bayern Munich last winter in an interview with the “L’Equipe‘, referring to his personal experiences during the pandemic. After recently admitting on French TV show Téléfoot that private issues affected his sporting performance as well (“I wasn’t happy, I couldn’t play football well because things weren’t going well in my life.”) , the 26-year-old admitted in the newspaper “Le Parisien” (quoted via “L’Équipe”) now a deeper insight into his emotional world.

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“It didn’t work in my head,” the newspaper quotes the world champion, who meets Denmark with the French national team on Sunday evening as part of the Nations League in Group A (from 8:45 p.m. in the TM live ticker). He doesn’t like the word ‘depressed’, ‘but it was like that. First you tell yourself it’s nothing, it’s going to pass. But if you see that it’s going on, that you’re training and not having fun, you have to react,” said Pavard. The professional didn’t cope well with the situation in lockdown: “I’m a person like everyone else, and although I have a super nice house with a weight room, I needed contact with others. I got up, I had no appetite. I tried to keep myself busy, to cook, to watch series. But Netflix, it was ok for only two minutes…”

Bayern’s Pavard on the depressive phase: “It has changed me”

The defender is doing better now. “I came out of it all as a man, but it changed me,” he admits. “Like many football players, I was on my own and had to surround myself with a positive environment to get my head back up,” continued the right-footer. The 45-time national player had recently indicated that FCB coach Julian Nagelsmann was also a help: “He made it clear to me that I would play a big role in his plans.”

Pavard, who switched from VfB Stuttgart to Munich in 2019 for 35 million euros, still has a contract with the record champions until 2024. In the program “Téléfoot” he announced at the beginning of September that he had also considered a change: “I have in the many things in question in the summer. I’ve had calls from various clubs.” According to reports, top European clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético Madrid, Juventus Turin, Manchester United and Chelsea FC have been vying for the defender’s services in recent months.

“Maybe one day I’ll go to one of the interested clubs, you never know,” added Pavard, whose future at least this year lies with Bayern. After the season, the professional wants to take enough time to “set up a plan”. In the past season, Pavard had two assists in 36 competitive games for Munich, in the past two games he was not used due to injury.

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