Hamza Choudhury and Neco Williams share their mental health stories and send a message to their younger selves in a new series with VERSUS and Childline, encouraging young people to speak out and seek support in times of trouble.

The two players speak openly and honestly about the difficulties they’ve faced in their personal lives as part of ‘A Message to My Younger Self, a series that covers five of the most important struggles young people face: anxiety, loneliness, family conflict, unhappiness and suicidal thoughts.

Leicester City player Hamza Choudhury has been a vocal advocate for taking about your problems throughout his career, while Liverpool’s on-loan full back Neco Williams has suffered online abuse first-hand.

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In the first episode of ‘A Message to My Younger Self’, focusing on anxiety, Hamza says: “I think if I looked back now, I’d advise my younger self to maybe go a bit easier on myself. I was anxious about proving people wrong, proving people right, making people proud.”

“For an individual, it’s just [important] to find someone you can trust, someone you can be open with and feel comfortable talking about these things with.”

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Speaking about the anxiety he's faced in his career, Neco spoke about the effects online abuse can have: "I’m not going to lie it was a very tough time, everything was just horrible on there. I didn’t want to be around no one, I just went straight to my house in Liverpool and stayed there on my own.

I just felt angry, embarrassed. I didn’t know what to do. Looking back on it now, In just wish I would have spoke to more people."

‘A Message to My Younger Self’ is a collaboration between VERSUS and Childline, a free and confidential service where anyone under 19 in the UK can talk about any problems they’re going through.

If you’re worried about anything or need support, you can call Childline at any time on 0800 1111, or find support online at Childline.org.uk.