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Plenty to penury: how Emmanuel Eboue lost it all and who wants to help

After an impressive seven-year career in the Premier League, Emmanuel Eboue’s marital plight has pushed him to the brink of suicide after losing his entire asset to his ex-wife, Aurelie.

During his seven-year career with Arsenal in the Premier League, he was part of the side which faced Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final, pocketing millions of pounds in wages, lived in a mansion and drove flashy cars.

“I want God to help me,” he says. “Only he can help take these thoughts from my mind.”

He says, as his joy has been replaced by tears – and a deep fear of the future.

Eboue, currently unable to play football because of ill-health, lost a bitter divorce battle, had to hide from the police and bailiffs after being ordered by a judge to transfer his remaining Enfield home to his wife, faced a heart-breaking estrangement from his three kids, who he has not seen since June, and has been grieving after the cancer-related death of his Grandfather Amadou Bertin – who raised him – and the loss of his brother N’Dri Serge, killed in a motorbike accident.

It has been three weeks since a deadline passed for Eboue to surrender ownership of the North London home he used to share with Aurelie as a judge will sign the transfer if he does not do so.

The player and his wife lived there in happier times before Eboue bought a mansion – which Aurelie has now put on the market.

He also understands she will rent out the Enfield property.

 “I can’t afford the money to continue to have any lawyer or barrister.

“I am in the house but I am scared. Because I don’t know what time the police will come.

“Sometimes I shut off the lights because I don’t want people to know that I am inside. I put everything behind the door.

“My own house, I suffered to buy my house but I am now scared.

“I am not going to sell my clothes or sell what I have. I will fight until the end because it is not fair.”

Eboue admits that he has been “naïve” with money as his wife was in control of the family’s accounts. His handfuls of visits to the bank were with Aurelie.

Eboue recalls an occasion when bank staff visited him to sign paperwork at Arsenal’s training ground.

His dream of a Premier League return with Sunderland evaporated last year, however, after he was hit with a 12-month ban by FIFA after a dispute with a former agent.

He says: “I look back and say ­‘Emmanuel, you have been naive… why didn’t you think about that before?’ It is hard.

“Very, very hard, the money I earned, I sent it to my wife for our children.

“In Turkey I earned eight million euros. I sent seven million back home. Whatever she tells me to sign, I sign.

“She is my wife. The problems with FIFA were because of people advising me, people who are supposed to care. But it was because of them FIFA banned me.”

However, he remains upset that the district judge in the case, Edward Cross, ruled against him in his absence at the Central Family Court in London and insists his ill-health prevented him from engaging in the process.

Court documents suggest he did not fill in a Form E which sets all of his assets and liabilities – and that he failed to comply with a number of orders.

Eboue contends that he was kicked out of the matrimonial home and unable to gain access to retrieve such documents requested by the court.

The subsequent information provided to the court by Eboue was said to have been “highly deficient”.

A senior lawyer was briefly engaged to try and delay the final hearing but was unsuccessful.

The Ivorian, who has struggled with long-term depression, says he found himself further disadvantaged as he could not afford to retain his legal representation.

 “That divorce killed me a lot. I am not happy about the law in England because it is so biased. I want God to use me to change that. I want to be able to say that what this judge has done is not fair,” he said.

 Grounds for divorce in the UK

When you apply for a divorce you’ll need to prove that your marriage has broken down. You’ll need to give one of the following 5 reasons.

1. Adultery

Your husband or wife had sexual intercourse with someone else of the opposite sex. The law recognises the act of adultery as sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, one of whom is married. You can’t give adultery as a reason if you lived together as a couple for 6 months after you found out about it.

2. Unreasonable behaviour

Your husband or wife has behaved in such a way that you cannot reasonably be expected to live with them.

This could include Physical violence, Verbal abuse, such as insults or threats, Drunkenness or drug-abuse, Refusing to pay for housekeeping.

 3. Desertion

Your husband or wife has left you without your agreement, without a good reason, to end your relationship, for more than 2 years in the past 2.5 years. You can still claim desertion if you have lived together for up to a total of 6 months in this period.

 4. You have lived apart for more than 2 years

You can apply for a divorce if you’ve lived apart for more than 2 years and both agree to the divorce. Your husband or wife must agree in writing.

5. You have lived apart for at least 5 years

You can apply for a divorce if you’ve lived apart for at least 5 years, even if your husband or wife disagrees.

Galatasaray to the rescue

Following the publication of Eboue’s story over the weekend, Fatih Terim and former stars of the Istanbul side decided to help the club’s former employee out of his crisis.

In what is believed to be his first reaction since Turkish club Galatasaray offered him a job, former Ivorian international Emmanuel Eboue has thanked the club reserving special mention for its manager, Fatih Terim.

He moved to Galatasaray in 2011 from Arsenal where he spent five years between 2011 and 2016 making 77 appearances and scoring four goals. He returns as an assistant coach for the club’s U14 side, Fatih Terim said.

“We heard news about Eboue in the dressing room, I was informed there; we will do whatever we can to help my friend.”

Meanwhile, President Kenyatta Uhuru’s lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi‏ has offered to help Eboue by rendering his services to the 34-year-old Ivorian has he has not been able to hire a lawyer as he cannot afford one presently.

“I am looking for him here in London to provide some pro bono legal advice…” Ahmednasir Abdullahi said in a tweet.

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