Sunderland striker Aaron Connolly makes stark admission about second Hull City spell

The frontman could make his Black Cats debut on Sunday afternoon

Aaron Connolly admits his life was a mess during his second stint at Hull City last season as he prepares to make his first return to the MKM Stadium since leaving in the summer.

Connolly signed for City’s Championship rivals Sunderland last month and could make his debut on Sunday afternoon for the Black Cats, but has been looking back on what he describes as a difficult period in his life, admitting his struggles with alcoholism.

The Republic of Ireland striker, who spent a spell on the sidelines in the months following his collision with Norwich City goalkeeper Angus Gunn in mid-January, says he went to a treatment clinic in a bid to try and get his life back on track after bursting on the scene for Brighton in the Premier League before things went off the rails.

“You go from the Under-23s and getting plaudits there and you get shot into the Premier League,” the 24-year-old striker said in a candid interview with Sunderland’s website. “My phone was blowing up, social media… it was one of the best days of my life (netting against Tottenham) but also one of the worst because the following five years came from that.

“I stopped working, stopped doing the things that I should have kept doing. I started to believe the hype and I didn’t turn into a good person after that, I was tough be around, no one could tell me anything. I didn’t know how to deal with it, to be honest. I didn’t feel like I had that authoritative figure to keep me grounded.

“I always say to my parents that I started to live the life of a footballer without the football side of it and that was the hardest bit to admit at the time – that I wasn’t doing all the things that had got myself in that position. It hurts to look back at it and speak it. I had problems off the pitch and it was highlighted a lot. I lost track of myself, lost track of why I was playing football, chasing things that I was never chasing before that Tottenham goal.