Former Manchester United football star George Best, who has battled alcoholism since quitting the game, was in a 'serious' condition in intensive care at a London hospital today, his doctor said.
Best, 59, was admitted to the private Cromwell Hospital in central London on Saturday with influenza-like symptoms, Professor Roger Williams said, and was transferred to intensive care the next evening after his condition worsened.
However, the former Northern Ireland winger was being treated with antibiotics and was improving.
"He is serious but improving, with the emphasis on improving," Williams told reporters.
"The infection has caused him to be severely ill but he is certainly responding to treatment and we hope to move him out of intensive care in the next 24 hours."
Best, considered one of the most talented players ever to take to a football pitch, had a liver transplant in 2002 after many years of heavy drinking took their toll.
Immuno-suppressant drugs Best had been taking since the transplant had made him more susceptible to infection, Williams said.
Spotted as a 15-year-old by a scout who supposedly telephoned then-Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby with the message "I think I've found a genius," Best made his debut for the club just
two years later.
A hugely exciting and skilled forward, Best helped United claim the English league championship in 1965 and 1967, and was voted European Player of the Year in 1968, when United became the first English side to claim the European Cup.
But Best's flair, good looks and wild side, which led to him being dubbed the "fifth Beatle", led him into a party-going lifestyle which took an increasing toll on his football career.
Only four years after the European Cup triumph, aged just 26, Best walked out of Manchester United and top class football. He played on for a further decade in England, Scotland and the United States but was a spent force.
Following his final retirement, Best began drinking even more heavily, and his health deteriorated such that in July 2002 he underwent a life-saving liver transplant.
Within less than a year, despite attempts to kick his habit, Best was going on drinking binges again, prompting criticism from medical specialists that he risked putting people off organ donation.
Best, who recently divorced his wife, former air hostess Alex, has been in trouble with the police a number of times. He was convicted of drink-driving and questioned about allegations he punched a friend of his ex-lover, among other incidents.
During his career, best made 466 appearances for Manchester United, scoring 178 goals, and was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland.
