Tottenham Hotspur and England great Jimmy Greaves is being treated in hospital, the Premier League club announced Tuesday.
But there was no
mention in their brief statement of whether the former striker was suffering
from the coronavirus, or indeed the exact nature of the 80-year-old’s current
condition.
“We can confirm
that our record goalscorer Jimmy Greaves is currently being treated in
hospital,” said a statement on Spurs’ official Twitter feed.
“We are in touch
with his family and will provide further updates in due course. Everybody at
the club sends their best wishes to Jimmy and his family.”
Greaves is
understood to have been in poor health since suffering a stroke nearly five
years ago.
A prolific
goalscorer throughout his career, Greaves also played for Chelsea and West Ham,
but his greatest success came at Tottenham during a golden era for the London
side that saw him score a club record 266 goals in 379 matches from 1961-70.
For decades Greaves
held the record for most goals scored in Europe’s top five leagues, his tally
of 366 goals in 528 appearances during a career that also included a spell at
Italy’s AC Milan only broken by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017.
Greaves was equally
prolific at international level, scoring 44 goals in just 57 appearances for
England.
He was a member of
the England squad that won the 1966 World Cup on home soil but an injury in a
group game against France cost him his place in the side and paved the way for
his replacement, Geoff Hurst, to score a hat-trick in the final against West
Germany.
