Kasper Schmeichel is reportedly set to undergo surgery this week in an attempt to save his career.
The Celtic goalkeeper, 39, revealed that he has been playing through the pain barrier this season with shoulder issues. It is being claimed that the experienced veteran will have two operations in the coming weeks.
Schmeichel has missed the last few weeks of action to prepare for his ops and now, according to Danish outlet B.T, the stopper is to go under the knife this week after his initial surgery was delayed.
The goalie will miss the World Cup playoffs later this week and could potentially miss around 12 months of action on the road to recovery.
But his bombshell news, as he explained on CBS Sport, took Celtic boss Martin O'Neill by surprise as the Northern Irishman admitted he had no idea the issues were so bad.
"I must admit I was surprised at the severity of it," interim manager O'Neill said. "I know that he was having injections to play some of the games. So disappointed to hear the news, I must admit.
"We've all done this. I've been guilty of that myself a hundred-odd years ago, trying to play through an injury to play in a European Cup final [with Nottingham Forest].
"If that was the first announcement, obviously I would've preferred to have heard it myself.
"I thought he was really terrific in my first spell here [this season], the six or seven weeks that I was involved. He made some big, big saves in games."
Schmeichel has been described by some pundits as "selfish" for playing through the injury despite his performances lacking in big moments. The 'keeper has cost his side some big goals in big moments in big matches.
So his words on CBS came as a shock to most fans, too. He said recently: "I was at a specialist yesterday and basically I'm going to need two surgeries now to fix my shoulder which is a bit of a body blow.
"I've torn the bicep, torn the rotator cuff, dislocated the shoulder, torn the labrum. Everything's kind of gone. To put it in terms you can understand, it's like an outfielder doing their ACL and their Achilles at the same time.
"So it's looking like 10 to 12 months of rehab so it's been a strange few days. You don't really know how to react to this because I could have potentially played my last ever football game. I've been a footballer since the day I was born and that kind of thought is devastating. It's very, very hard to wrap my head around at the moment. I was watching the keepers warm up and thinking I might never get to do that again, so in that sense it was a tough night.
"It's been emotional and as much as you guys have been nice, I haven't enjoyed a single minute of it because you're looking at what could be waiting for you. Not that it's not good in other ways, but I’ve been a footballer ever since I can remember and to think that I might not be able to do that again, that's a tough one.
"I got the message yesterday that it could potentially be the end of my career because of my age. By the time I could potentially be back fit I'd be plus 40."
Schmeichel is out of contract at Celtic in the summer and may now have played his final game for the club.
