MATT Jansen today admitted there was a point last season when he became so depressed that he considered quitting professional football.

In an exclusive interview with the Evening Telegraph, Jansen has opened his heart for the first time about the mental torment that almost prompted him to retire at the age of just 27.

The injury-cursed Blackburn Rovers striker, whose latest comeback bid was almost curtailed by a late challenge from Espanyol's Cameroon keeper Idriss Kameni at the weekend, sunk to the depths of despair earlier this year as he struggled to recapture the form that earned him an England call-up in 2002.

Jansen was widely regarded as one of the brightest young players in the game until he suffered life threatening head injuries as a result of a motorbike accident in Italy three years ago.

From that moment on, the former Crystal Palace star has been battling to resurrect his career and he reached a point earlier this year when he was ready to give up the fight and walk away from the game altogether.

"I was thinking of packing it all in because I was on the floor and I'd had enough," confessed the striker.