Real Madrid youth product Lucas Silva could be forced to retire from football aged just 23.
According to media in Spain, a heart condition was discovered during Silva’s medical ahead of a proposed move to Portuguese giants Sporting Clube.
Further details are yet to emerge, but Sporting are believed to have pulled the plug of the potential transfer and reports are emerging that he has played his last game as a professional footballer.
The Brazilian’s Instagram bio reads (in Portuguese): “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” – a line from the Bible – and some have interpreted this as a sign that he is poised to hang up his boots.
A Brazil under-21 international, the midfielder moved to Madrid from Cruzeiro in January 2015.
He had made just nine appearances for the club – eight in La Liga and one in the 2014/15 Champions League win against Schalke – before spending last season on loan with Marseille.
Terrible time for Lucas Silva since signing for Real Madrid. Never fitted in, awful loan spell and now forced to retire, age 23. #RMCF
— Karl Matchett (@karlmatchett) July 10, 2016
Silva’s news comes just months after Cameroon midfielder Patrick Ekeng died from a heart attack during a match in Romania.
Ekeng’s agent, Hasan Anil Eken, has pushed for football clubs to do more to provide facilities to treat players who suffer cardiac arrest or life-threatening injuries on the field of play.
