Blackburn's Christopher Samba admits he considered his future in the game before his highly successful move to England.
The 23-year-old defender signed a new five-year deal at Ewood Park last month as a reward for his fine form, since he moved from Hertha Berlin in January.
Rovers paid just £300,000 for Samba - who is now earning rave reviews at the heart of Blackburn's defence.
"You ask yourself, 'what's wrong. Am I good enough?' People are getting picked ahead of you," he explained in the Daily Telegraph.
"You can do good things in training but you know it doesn't matter because you won't play on Saturday.
"You begin to doubt yourself. Luckily I got my chance here in the end."
Although Samba admits it was not easy when he first arrived in Lancashire.
"Yes, it was a tough time," he said.
"It was so cold, with storms all the time. On top of that, I didn't have a TV in my hotel room and it was driving me crazy. I said to my agent, 'I can't stand this. You have to get me away.'
"But my agent persuaded me to stay. He explained that the club just wanted to see me in a match. Two weeks after that I was playing in the first team. I was a little bit shaky but I am much better now. Today I have no fear of anybody."
