Marseille playmaker Mathieu Valbuena has admitted that he needed to be mentally strong early in his career after he was released by Bordeaux.

Valbuena has since worked his way back from amateur football to the lower French leagues with Libourne-Saint-Seurin and now finds himself starting for France and Marseille.

The diminutive midfielder has said that he would have given up football if not for the support of his close family.

"It's tough when you're told from one day to the next that your hopes have been shattered," he told beIN Sport.

"You have to be mentally strong because they're telling you that you're not going to be a professional footballer, or at least not at this particular club.

"You have two solutions. Either you give up football and try to find work here and there. Or you keep working. I was lucky enough to have a lot of supportive people around me and a father who instilled good values in me, teaching me never to give up, and that gave me a steely mentality to keep fighting."

Valbuena has scored five goals in 20 caps for France.