Players deserve privacy over mental health – Klopp

London (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp strongly believes players should be allowed to deal with health issues in private, saying of the glare of publicity focused on Everton’s Aaron Lennon: “I really hate it.”

Lennon has been in the spotlight after the former England winger was detained under the Mental Health Act on Sunday.

His club say Lennon is suffering from a stress-related illness, but Klopp does not believe it is fair to an individual’s recovery to have their medical problems openly debated.

“Whatever I could say about it doesn’t help, it is only another headline,” the Liverpool manager said on Friday.

“What I really think is (that we should) keep all these kind of issues as private as possible. Give the people the privacy they need — stop talking about it, stop asking about it.

“If it is not a football player the only advantage is that no one asks about it, so it is easy to come back when you feel better.

“In football or in the public eye everyone is interested and I don’t like it.

“It is like watching a car accident — instead of helping you only watch or take your smartphone out, and I really hate it.

“I am sure Everton are doing everything they can to keep it as private as possible and that is their job and everything will be good in the end.”