Source: Liverpool_Echo
Everton FC star Mikel Arteta: ‘Football is part of my life - not all of it’
AT HIS lowest ebb Mikel Arteta wondered when he would ever play for Everton again as his injured knee continued to fail him.[LNB]The Spaniard had already undergone two operations on the cruciate ligaments which tore so innocuously against Newcastle United in February.[LNB]Then just when he felt ready to return, another complication forced him under the surgeon's knife again.[LNB]It would be enough to plunge many players into depression, but as the 27-year-old received treatment in Barcelona's Quiron hospital, his outlook on football and life began to change.[LNB]"The lowest point for me was after the third setback, in November,' he said.[LNB]'I'd already come back from surgery, was training again and had been out for five months. But then the stitches in my knee flaked and that had to be repaired. It was just bad luck, that's all, but really terrible for me.[LNB]"It needed washing out and I was back in a brace for another three or[LNB]four weeks, back to square one. Mentally it was very tough.[LNB]"I was in Barcelona at the time and came down for dinner about 7 or 8pm. I walked downstairs but felt a bit sick, and my missus (former[LNB]Miss Spain Lorena Bernal) said 'look at the size of your knee'.[LNB]'It had really ballooned, so I went straight back to hospital that night.
