George Best, the former Northern Ireland and Manchester United soccer great, suffered a ”big setback” on Friday in his battle with serious infections that put him near death last month, his doctor said.
Best (59) who had been recovering recently, was back in intensive care with a ”new and severe infection” affecting his kidneys and ”everything else”, his doctor Professor Roger Williams told reporters outside a west London hospital.
He was receiving oxygen and was on a dialysis machine at the private Cromwell Hospital, Williams added. ”Mr Best is not so well.”
Former Manchester United teamate Denis Law told reporters meanwhile that Best was ”not looking good” after he saw him barely conscious and attached to tubes, adding that his family were flocking to London to visit him.
Best, viewed by some as a near-equal to football greats Pele and Diego Maradona in his prime, has been battling an infection that spread to several organs, including the liver, kidneys and bowel.
The infection was linked to immuno-suppressant drugs he was forced to take to prevent his body rejecting the new liver he received in a life-saving transplant in 2002 overseen by Williams, a specialist liver consultant.
”He was maintaining some progress each day and now he has acquired another infection as these patients are very susceptible to infection at this stage of recovery,” Williams added.
”His breathing is OK. He is having oxygen but he is not on a ventilator. It is a big setback after some steady progress over the last two weeks.”
Williams said Best was readmitted into intensive care from a separate ward in the hospital at about 6am on Friday but it was not clear how long he would stay there.
He did not say if the current infection was life-threatening.
”He is conscious and just about talking. He is eating and was making good progress but we are all very disturbed at a sudden setback like this,” he added.
Law said later that Best’s son Calum also visited the hospital and was particularly upset and other family members were heading for London because they knew he was ”extremely ill”.
”I wasn’t able to talk to him,” Law added. ”He was more or less unconscious. When I was down here a few weeks ago, I really thought at that time that I would not be seeing him.
”Then I thought he was on the mend. He was improving but had a relapse earlier this morning and that is why I came down here.
”You have just got to look at him and see all the tubes helping his breathing and you just feel it is not good.”
Asked whether Best knew he was there, Law said: ”I would like to think so but I don’t think he did.”
Best is considered one of the game’s greatest players and the first ”pop-star” footballer. He was voted European Player of the Year in 1968 before alcoholism took its toll on his career.
On Sunday, British weekly tabloid the News of the World reported comments from Best’s agent Phil Hughes that the former Old Trafford favourite had shrunk to just ”skin and bones”.
”George is very gaunt. He eats just the odd spoonful of porridge,” said Hughes, adding that Best’s weight had plunged from more than 76kg to barely 51kg. – Sapa-AFP