FORMER Premier League star Ivan Klasnic has blamed painkillers for wrecking his health and revealed he could die at any time.
The striker had three top-flight seasons with Bolton Wanderers, scoring 24 goals in 93 games, before leaving in 2012.
But Croatia international Klasnic has had to undergo THREE kidney transplants after painkillers prescribed by former club Werder Bremen worsened his undiagnosed renal disease.
He waged a 12-year legal battle against Bremen’s doctors before winning a near £4million payout in 2020.
Klasnic, 45, told a German TV documentary: “Who knows how much longer I have left to live. I have to be grateful that I am still alive, even though I am ill and I need to take tablets.
“Of course I am furious. I would not want anybody to have to endure what I have been through.
“No matter how much money I have received in compensation, it won’t bring my health back.
“It is difficult to get by without painkillers if you want to produce a performance on the field.
“I don’t think that you can play any form of professional sport without using pain-relief drugs.
“But had I known that I had kidney problems, I would not have taken those medicines.”
Klasnic hung up his boots in 2013 after a brief spell with Mainz.
He won a German league and cup double with Bremen in 2004 and played for French side Nantes before moving to Bolton in 2009.
He netted 20 times in the Premier League and played a big part as Wanderers reached the 2011 FA Cup semi-final.
Hamburg-born Klasnic won 41 Croatia caps, scoring 12 goals.
Read the full article here