I thought I was the next Wayne Rooney but was forced to retire – what happened to me can’t happen to other players

A FORMER Premier League prospect is calling for more support to be given to young athletes.

Matthew Briggs was once a promising rising star in England. He made his debut in the top flight for Fulham in 2007.

GettyMatthew Briggs came through the Fulham academy[/caption]

Instagram @matthewbriggs_12He wants more support to be made for young players[/caption]

Briggs, 33, became the Premier League’s youngest-ever player as he replaced Mortiz Volz in the 3-1 defeat to Middlesborough.

The left-back held the record of 16 years and 65 days old until Harvey Elliot made his Prem debut 12 years later at 16 years and 30 days old.

However, Briggs failed to make the grade at Craven Cottage and spent four spells away from the club on loan.

In 2014 he left the club for Millwall but only made 12 appearances for the club.

He joined Colchester and enjoyed a decent spell in which he made 65 appearances in three seasons.

Briggs then bounced around non-league sides which included stints in Denmark before his last club in Horsham.

He has now claimed that there was not enough support for young athletes.

He told the BBC: “You know for me I didn’t know I wasn’t as a kid that was academic.

“So I didn’t apply myself in school and because I started so young.

“I just assumed, I’m the next Wayne Rooney, I’m the next Theo Walcott.

“I’ve made it, I don’t need school.

“So and the way my career kind of went, I didn’t do anything else.

“When I got told I had to retire and it was not on my own terms I panicked.

“I’m like ‘Well, if I can’t play football, what am I going to do? How am I going to support myself? How am I going to look after my family?’

“And I literally had a panic up and that’s all.

“I spoke to a close friend who is a life coach, I spoke to a therapist, the counsellor to try and work out these things.

“Working out my next options. I want to stop that happening to other young people.

“I needed to realise that stuff a lot sooner.”

Briggs retired from football in 2023 having also won 15 caps for Guyana.

He was also part of the team that played in the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.