Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino praises ‘inspirational’ Aaron Lennon for opening up about mental health battle
The 30-year-old has returned to the Everton squad after being sanctioned under the Mental Health Act last year
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MAURICIO POCHETTINO has showered Aaron Lennon with praise after he publicly opened up about his mental health problems.
The Everton ace, who spent ten years with Tottenham, was detained under the Mental Health Act in May 2017.
Lennon has since returned to Everton's starting squad after making a good recovery from the stress-related illness.
And the former Spurs star turned to Twitter to pay tribute to those who helped him and inspire others who are suffering with similar issues.
Pochettino said: "Always when a public person like Aaron is talking so openly, it is always very helpful to many people around who might have the same problem.
"The fact Aaron spoke publicly about the issue can inspire people around the world, through him or through his behaviour, to get some help.
"Because Aaron spoke publicly that there are a lot of people ready to help people with mental issues, it's good for him to get the love from the fans and inspire people to get the same help and talk about it.
"Not only in football, it's general society.
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"But not everybody is strong enough to talk publicly about their own situation."
Lennon made 266 appearances for Tottenham, bagging 26 goals in the process.
He was loaned to Everton in 2015 during Pochettino's first campaign in charge at White Hart Lane.
And the Tottenham boss opened up about why the England international left Spurs after a lengthy stay in north London.
He said: "He was good. He was always respectful and professional.
"Little by little I trusted in different players and then we changed the style of play of Tottenham and then started to use [Erik] Lamela and [Christian] Eriksen in his position.
"He left because of the style, of course."
