Cocaine Addiction: Ex-Premier League star opens up on life after retirement

Former Newcastle United and Watford star Daryl Janmaat has spoke out about his struggles with a cocaine addiction, few years after he retired from professional football.

Janmaat played several seasons in the Premier League, spending two years at Newcastle before moving to Watford in 2016.

Eventually, the defender left the Premier League in 2020 to return to his home country and play for Dutch club ADO Den Haag, who now play in the second division.

During his career, Janmaat made 34 appearances for the Netherlands national team and was a part of the side that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2014.

Daryl Janmaat during his playing days at Newcastle United. (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

However, life has not gone too well for Janmaat who retired in 2022. The defender has now spoken out about his struggles with a cocaine addiction following his career.

“I have three children who also hear and read things,” Janmaat told Dutch newspaper AD

“I cannot and do not want to mention all the details, but my cocaine addiction has caused a lot of misery. I wanted to do so much, but a knee injury threw a spanner in the works.

“That knee was huge, after an injection, it went wrong. The joint became infected due to the wrong needle. My career was over, I couldn’t handle that.”

Daryl Janmaat at ADO Den Haag before his  retirement from active football. (Photo by Angelo Blankespoor/Soccrates/Getty Images)

After his retirement, Janmaat took on a role as a technical director at his final club, ADO Den Haag.

He had hoped that doing so would help him adjust to life away from the pitch, but he now recognises that it only made things worse.

“I was supposed to get help from everyone and everything, but I was left to fend for myself,” Janmaat claimed.

“Suddenly, I lost the structure I’d had for years as a footballer.

“That was difficult, the cocaine addiction gradually crept in. You start lying to the people you love. That’s terrible, I hurt a lot of people.”

Eventually, Janmaat’s cocaine addiction took a severe toll on his personal life, as he admitted it played a key role in him and his wife, Yoshi, separating.

He added: “I am still officially married, but we are no longer together. The relationship wasn’t going well anyway, but that addiction obviously didn’t help.

“A lot has been damaged, although we are getting on well again. It was cocaine, not something else. Not drink either. It can happen to anyone, I think. I never thought I could become addicted.”

Now, the 36-year-old has moved past his addiction and, although he believed he is unlikely to return to football, he now focused on the gym he recently opened.