José Enrique has had emergency surgery on a rare brain tumor

"I stayed in bed for five hours without moving"

Newcastle and Liverpool's former Spanish left back José Enrique has revealed that he has had surgery to remove a rare brain tumor today via posts from his Twitter and Instagram account. Enrique, who made 159 appearances in the Premier League and won the League Cup with Liverpool, posted the news along with a picture of himself recovering in hospital along with his girlfriend. The popular full back wrote:

"Sorry i haven’t been around much, It has been the toughest few weeks of my life.. Within the space of one month I have found out the news that I have a rare brain tumor and had surgery to have it removed, I am now in recovery and so thankful, Life is too precious. ❤️"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkW8YJVH1qG/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=801nxdfkrxar Enrique retired in 2017 after a final season spent with Real Zaragoza in the Spanish second division and has since become a football agent. He also links to an article on the Spanish football website Marca.com which reveals that he checked into hospital after suffering severe headaches and blurry vision whilst visiting his former manager at Newcastle and current Brighton boss Chris Hughton. After lengthy tests a neurosurgeon was finally able to tell Enrique that he had a chordoma, which is a rare tumor located behind the eye and involves a complicated surgical prodcedure to remove. This took place last week in his hometown of Valencia and lasted 9 hours. He told Marca: "They did an exceptional job, I was in the ICU for 24 hours and I am very grateful to the work of Dr. Simal and his medical team. They were the worst days of my life. I stayed in bed for five days without moving." Enrique had to learn to walk again following the operation and is due to revisit doctors on 26 July to start receiving radiotherapy in either Paris or Zurich. He is expected to return to full health and back to his normal life around September time. Amongst others, Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho, Pepe Reina, Pablo Dybala and Keylor Navas all shared messages of support with the fan-favourite whilst away at the World Cup. Get well soon José.