This former soccer prodigy made his debut at 16. 11 years later, he was left feeling suicidal

Matthews Briggs was still at school when he made soccer history, becoming the youngest player to feature in the English Premier League.

Matthews Briggs was still at school when he made soccer history, becoming the youngest player to feature in the English Premier League. The teenage sensation was just 16 years and 65 days old when he made his debut in arguably the toughest league in the world, coming on as a second-half substitute for Fulham in a 3-1 win in 2007. That “surreal moment” seemingly was the start of an exciting career in the game – Briggs was once tipped as a future England captain. Instead it was the beginning of a tumultuous journey which hit rock bottom as he stood on the edge of a hotel balcony in Dubai. “I had pushed myself from my family and my friends. I felt like I had nobody,” Briggs tells CNN Sport, reflecting on how he felt in 2018. “I was thinking, ‘What’s the point? I might as well just end it all now because all that I’m feeling will stop.’” Briggs was one of the country’s most exciting young talents as a teenager and he progressed quickly through the youth ranks.