Aaron Connolly says a desire not to be Ireland's forgotten man pushed him to ditch bad influences and move to Italy.
Connolly, 22, has set his sights on an Ireland recall having joined Venezia on loan from Brighton - a move he believes was "vital" for the sake of his career.
The Galwegian looked destined for greatness when impressing on his Premier League breakthrough three years ago, his two goals against Spurs earning him rave reviews.
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But Connolly has had off the field struggles and they have impacted on his career.
"I’ve got a good group of people around me now, a good group of mates… the old circle I used to be around off the pitch, I’ve had to make my mind up," he said.
“It’s either keep going in the phase I was going in and eventually I’ll just be completely forgotten.
"At the minute I’m probably the forgotten man in Irish football and if I kept associating with people I’d been associating with before, I would have completely gone off the scale.
“Now I think I’ve turned that around and hopefully people will be able to see that with performances and work rate and hopefully goals."
Connolly simply felt the need to get out of England and join the Serie B club for the season, and with his Seagulls career probably beyond saving.
He last played for Brighton in mid-December.
"I knew when I was coming back for pre-season, I probably wouldn’t be wearing a Brighton shirt again," he said.
"My mindset was that I would be leaving the club.
“A lot of people know why I haven’t kicked on and I know myself. That’s why this move to Italy was vital, just to get away from the circle I was in back in England, I needed a fresh start.
“The association I had with people off the pitch and away from the training ground, it was never going to benefit me in any way, being around people in certain places.
"The support network I have around me right now, friends and family, the people that are in my life right now, they are only helping.
"They don’t want anything from me.”
In an interview with Ireland Football Fans TV, Connolly recalled his confidence was "on the deck" and regrets the frame of mind he was in while on loan at Middlesbrough last season.
"I wish this version of myself right now had showed up," he stated. "It would have been a different story.
"Physically and mentally, I haven’t felt this strong in a long time."
Connolly's declining club form bled into his Ireland performances.
He earned Stephen Kenny's trust as a starter but a series of poor displays forced the Ireland boss' hand.
Connolly hasn't started at international level since a poor first half display against Azerbaijan 10 months ago.
The player himself has revealed that Kenny and his assistant Keith Andrews later showed him clips from his performance in that game and compared them to his non-stop running in an under-21 fixture with Sweden from 2019.
"That faded without me realising," admitted Connolly. “That love for football has probably faded in the last three seasons.
"Everyone can probably tell by my performances at times.
"And maybe the way I carried myself on the pitch and sometimes off it.
"Now I’m in a better headspace, you look back at games and think, ‘Was I really walking around for that long? Did I really have my head down for this long? Did I really walk around like that?’
“At the time when people were telling me, I didn’t want to listen or hear or see what they were saying to me was right.
“Now, with all the work I’m putting into this pre-season, like I was four seasons ago, five seasons ago, six seasons, that’s when you really start to realise how much the hunger and desire and love for the game faded over the past few seasons.”
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