Christian Eriksen is "highly unlikely" to play professional football again after he suffered a cardiac arrest during Denmark's Euro 2020 fixture with Finland.
That's the damning verdict of a leading sports cardiology professor who worked alongside Eriksen, 29, at Tottenham Hotspur.
Sanjay Sharma, professor of sports cardiology at St George's University in London, confirmed that there will be "strict protocols in place" to prevent the Danish midfielder from taking to the pitch in the future.
"Clearly something went terribly wrong," he said.
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"But they managed to get him back, the question is what happened? And why did it happen?
"This guy had normal tests all the way up to 2019 so how do you explain this cardiac arrest?"
Eriksen, a key player during Inter Milan's Serie A title-winning campaign last season, suddenly fell to the ground just before half-time.
In destressing images broadcast around the world, Eriksen required 13 minutes of CPR and had to be resuscitated before being taken to hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.
The Danish national team have since confirmed that Eriksen will have a heart starter device fitted.
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Prof Sharma added that it would be up to both the player and the club to assess the risks of continuing to play, but claimed that the English FA would "probably not" allow him to play.
"I don't know whether he'll ever play football again," he added.
"Without putting it too bluntly, he died today, albeit for a few minutes, but he did die and would the medical professional allow him to die again? The answer is no.
"I think the Football Association will be very strict about whether he plays again or not. In the UK he wouldn't play - we'd be very strict about it."
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Eriksen was in a stable condition on Saturday night with Danish team doctor Morten Boesen confirming the news that he had suffered from a cardiac arrest.
"He was gone," said Boesen.
"We did cardiac resuscitation, it was a cardiac arrest.
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"How close were we to losing him? I don't know, but we got him back after one defib [defibrillation] so that's quite fast."
It is not currently known why Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest on Saturday, with tests likely to reveal the exact cause in the coming days.
In mirror-like circumstances, former professional footballer Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during the first half of Bolton's FA Cup quarter-final at Spurs in March 2012.
He made a full recovery, but the cardiac arrest forced him to announce his retirement from professional football six months later, aged 24.
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Much like Muamba, former England and Nottinghamshire batsman James Taylor was also forced to retire because of a serious heart condition.
Scans revealed that Taylor, who was one of the most popular figures within the England set-up, has a condition similar to the one which affected Muamba.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Euro 2020, Denmark, Christian Eriksen
