A Francophone journalist has said the grace to grass fall by former Ivorian star Emmanuel Eboue actually began with a pastor's counsel.

According to Aliou Goloko who worked closely with the former Arsenal star, the pastor, whose name he did not mention, managed to alienate Eboue from his family during this period of great success.

“It started with a pastor who took him away from his family, all his friends and who told him he [Eboue] needed deliverance,” Goloko said.

Even though he did not say how devastating that pastor-player relationship was, he was emphatic his relationship with the Belgian wife left the Arsenal Star completely bankrupt.

The man who earned millions of pounds in wages and drove flashy cars with flamboyance in his days at Arsenal later contemplated suicide.

That was after painful divorce proceedings. He was left penniless and now has to wash his own clothes and use a public transport.

Emmanuel Eboue shared his grass to grace story in an interview with the international media last week.

The matter has triggered some huge public uproar with some blaming either the player himself or his Belgian wife.

But Aliou Goloko told sit-in host of the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Daniel Dadzie, Wednesday, religion and the belief systems of some of the players also has a role to play in their predicaments.

Goloko said when Eboue came into contact with that pastor, some of his colleague African players said he was no longer the Eboue they used to know.

And it was just around that same period that he started having problems with his agent which eventually led to his one year ban from football.

“Today he is no more in a good mood with the pastor and the wife too he is no longer with her and he has lost everything,” he said.

Aliu Goloko said the connection with the Belgian wife further complicated matters with Eboue losing touch with his “roots.”

He said there have been one too many of such sorry stories with African players and advised young up and coming stars not to alienate their families in their time of glory.

Meanwhile, an international investment analyst Mr Charles Mensah has said football and other celebrities acquire a lifestyle they can sustain.

He said the celebrities must look at their income, expenditure, savings and investment culture when they are in their period of grace.

He did not understand how some footballers will parade a number of cars in their homes when they only spend few weeks in Ghana within a year.

“Those cars will not earn you any income,” he said, adding, the players must rather consider investing in some treasury bills for a rainy day.