Reports Claim Arsenal Cult Hero Emmanuel Eboue Discovered He Has HIV After Summer Medical

Emmanuel Eboué will fly to England to have further tests after it was discovered the 34-year-old had contracted HIV, according toGoal Turkey.

Concerns over Eboué's health were first raised on Sunday when the player's agent, Tekin Birinci, took to social media to say: "Unfortunately [it] is true that we are facing some medical problems about Eboue. He will go to England… so we will know how serious it is."

The report suggests that Eboué was diagnosed with the disease after completing a medical with Turkish Cypriot side Türk Ocağı Limasol this summer, the former Arsenal defender having been a free agent after a spell with Sunderland ended in March 2016.

Goal have since reached out to Birinci to confirm Eboué's condition, however, he denied the reports that had broken out in Turkish media, claiming that no official diagnosis had been made.

"Eboué signed for a club and, as a normal procedure, we took him for a medical to check him out," he said. "They found abnormal blood values so they didn't issue the licence and we took the decision to send him to England to have medical check-ups there.

"It's wrong to say at this point he has HIV. Turkish news reports are wrong. I made it [Eboue’s situation] clear two days ago. Even if it will be true it shouldn't be published like that."

Before joining Arsenal in 2005, Eboué had spent three years in Belgium with KSK Beveren. The Ivorian moved to the Belgian city of Beveren, which borders Antwerp and the Netherlands, after working up the ranks of ASEC Mimosas, a football team based in his native Côte d’Ivoire.

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