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Neil Etheridge has bravely opened up about how mental health struggles tormented him throughout Cardiff City's Premier League season.

The Bluebirds goalkeeper was one of the shining lights for Neil Warnock's side in the ultimately ill-fated campaign in the top flight.

So much so, in fact, newly-promoted Aston Villa were keen on acquiring his services this summer.

But, behind the scenes, it was a very different picture. Etheridge was fighting the most difficult of battles.

Before last season began, he started seeing a psychologist because he was consumed with a feeling of emptiness despite reaching the very pinnacle of his career.

And, in a candid interview, the Philippines international spoke about the demons that plagued him last year.

(Image: Huw Evans Agency)

"Living in that moment I didn't enjoy it very much," he told the Across The Line podcast, "I broke down.

"Not many people know this, but at the start of the Premier League season I started seeing a psychologist, because I could do everything on the field, but mentally I was empty."

The then embattled goalkeeper even revealed that when Cardiff sealed promotion to the top flight, he found no fulfilment.

"I was saying I was all happy, but in reality I wasn't that happy we got promoted," he added. "Well, not that I wasn't happy, it's hard to describe.

"It was an empty happiness, there was no real fulfilment for me."

He attributes those feelings to the destabilising nature of his career to that point.

The 29-year-old had spells at Fulham, Leatherhead, Charlton Athletic, Bristol Rovers, Crewe Alexandra, Oldham Athletic and Walsall before finding home in the Welsh capital.

He has always appeared to be a person who has the utmost confidence in his ability, but even he admits that seemingly impenetrable outward persona is sometimes bravado.

"Am I good enough?," he continued. "That's a big thing. Sometimes I do put on a front of 'I'm amazing' and I do believe it, but sometimes I don't believe it."

The visit to the psychologist was triggered by a conversation he had with his fiancée Alexandra Solera.

She could see he was getting no enjoyment out of the game he loved, having gone from 'zero to 100' in such a short space of time and implored him to seek help in order to cope with the sizeable changes.

He visited the club doctor and had an incredibly sobering conversation about when Cardiff sealed promotion that really hit home.

Etheridge said: "The doctor said: 'When we got promoted, everyone was dancing, drinking, you just sat in your spot and didn't move.'

"I didn't even know. He goes: 'Did you enjoy it?'

"And I said: 'Yeah, well not really, but yeah.' It's a weird concept.

"I just found it extremely tough, mentally. Not because of my ability, but because I couldn't realise what I'd achieved."

He says the work with the psychologist paid dividends and it showed in the back end of the Premier League season, when he earned high praise for his many stellar displays.

Etheridge believes now he has struck a better balance between enjoying the game and his unrelenting focus on success.

He has managed to regain that No.1 spot in the City goal this season, ousting Alex Smithies in recent weeks, and Bluebirds will hope he is back to his rip-roaring best to help get this Championship campaign back on track.