A footballer who had been released by two professional clubs made a number of suicide attempts before taking his life, an inquest heard.

Rheiss McLean, 23, spent four and a half years in Mansfield Town’s youth system and previously had a similar length of time in the junior setup at Burton Albion.

He went missing from his home in Leicester on November 12 last year, leading to the police issuing a public appeal for information on the basis they were “extremely concerned for his welfare”.

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McLean was found in the car park of the New Parks leisure centre in Leicester, in the same area of the city where he and his family lived. He was in his car and the official cause of death was given as asphyxia.

The inquest in Leicester was told that it was not the first time McLean had tried to take his own life. The coroner, Catherine Mason, recorded a verdict of suicide after hearing that the police had found no suspicious circumstances or evidence of third-person involvement.

McLean, an attacking midfielder or winger, had been part of Burton’s youth system from the age of 10 to 14 and, having left the club in 2014, joined Mansfield the following year until his release, at the age of 19.

He subsequently moved into non-League football with Shepshed Dynamo and had also had brief spells with Wisbech Town, Stratford Town, Hinckley AFC and Cornwall club Mousehole.

McLean was enrolled at Mansfield at the same time that Matthew Langton, who was a year older, was on a two-year residential course with the League Two club.

Langton, who had been in Derby County’s youth system from the age of seven to 16, took his own life at home in Toton, Nottingham, in 2021. His family have questioned whether more should be done to help young footballers who struggle to cope after failing to win professional contracts.

In another case that resulted in a suicide verdict, a former Manchester City academy player, Jeremy Wisten, took his own life, aged 18, in 2020. At the inquest, it emerged that City had conducted an internal review aimed at improving its aftercare process for released teenagers.

If you would like to talk to someone having read this article, you can call the Samaritans in the UK free any time, from any phone, on 116 123. Click here to contact them from the US. Young Minds also provides support for young people across the UK experiencing a mental health crisis: Text YM to 85258. 

(Photo: Leicester Police)