Best to undergo liver tests

Troubled former footballer George Best will undergo routine tests on his liver as part of his transplant treatment and not because of his drinking, his spokesman said today.

The 58-year-old former Manchester United player is to have a biopsy to see if his body has accepted the organ.

Best, who will go to the private Cromwell Hospital in London tomorrow, is expected to stay in hospital for a couple of days.

Philip Hughes, spokesman for former player turned tv pundit, said: “It is a normal procedure that after a transplant they require you to go through.

“It is just to see how he is getting on with the liver and not – as the tabloid papers suggest – because he abused it through drinking.”

The biopsy will be carried out by consultant hepatologist Professor Roger Williams who supervised Best’s medical care before and after his life-saving transplant in 2002.

Mr Hughes said Best, who also played for Northern Ireland during his career, was philosophical about the treatment.

“He is fine. It is not a nice thing for anyone to go through, but he must and he will just get on with it.”