Wayne Lineker has revealed he has been left ‘unable to walk’ and is recovering in hospital after being rushed to intensive care with ‘extremely dangerous’ pneumonia.
The O Beach owner, 63, who is the brother of footballer and broadcaster Gary Lineker, took to his Instagram Stories with a lengthy health update on Sunday.
Wayne, who is based in Ibiza, explained how he had fallen ill with what he assumed was COVID and then a heart attack, before medics diagnosed pneumonia.
He said despite being on the road to recovery he still cannot walk and would require months of rehabilitation and physiotherapy.
Pneumonia is a type of chest infection that affects the tiny air sacs in the lungs. The condition causes these sacs to be become inflammed and fill with fluid, making it harder to breathe.
Wayne wrote: ‘Hello, my beautiful friends… I did not want to announce this because I know how much love I would receive and I always feel extremely guilty not being able to reply to everyone,’
Wayne Lineker has revealed he has been left ‘unable to walk’ and is recovering in hospital after being rushed to intensive care with ‘extremely dangerous’ pneumonia (pictured 2021)
The O Beach owner, who is the brother of footballer and broadcaster Gary Lineker , took to his Instagram Stories with a lengthy health update on Sunday
‘So two weeks ago I caught a flight from Mauritius to Dubai as I needed to be there for the one year anniversary party. While I was on that flight, I believe I caught a very bad infection’.
‘What I thought at the time was Covid, it completely knocked me out and I just wanted to get home. I flew home on the Friday and went straight home and rested. 3am in the morning i woke from my bed and could not walk at that time’.
He went on: ‘I thought I was having a heart attack so called my daughter Tia and she was in great despair and called her mum who came round to my house and me in an ambulance o the hopsital where I was diagnosed with chronic pneumonia and admitted to intensive care where I spent 10 days’.
‘Now have been moved to a respiratory ward it’s only now that I feel confident enough in my recovery that I can let everyone know I have been speaking and having visits from my family and close friends’.
Before adding: ‘But catching pneumonia at my age is extremely dangers. I am still in hospital but out of the danger zone and intensive care. I still cannot walk at all and have around two months rehabilitation and physio ahead of me’.
Meanwhile, Wayne’s brother Gary is to defect to Netflix with an ‘an extraordinarily lucrative’ deal which will see him star on the streamer during next year’s World Cup.
The former England striker will host his The Rest Is Football podcast for the platform from North America following his exit from the BBC in May after he shared a social media post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic insult.
Gary, 65, was due to go to America to anchor the BBC’s coverage of the tournament as his final project after 25 years at the Corporation but that was axed when he reposted the image.
Wayne, who is based in Ibiza, explained how he had fallen ill with what he assumed was COVID, before medics diagnosed pneumonia and he spent ten days in intensive care (pictured in May)
He said that despite being on the road to recovery he still cannot walk and would require months of rehabilitation and physiotherapy (pictured earlier this year)
The podcast was previously aired on BBC Sounds but following his exit it hasn’t had a mainstream home.
It is not yet known whether his regular co-stars Alan Shearer and Micah Richards will star alongside him but they may be in the US with the Beeb as pundits.
A source close to the deal told the Daily Mail: ‘The Rest is Football is currently available to watch on YouTube but it has not been affiliated to any other network or broadcaster.
‘This is all new for Netflix and it is being described as an exciting a new thing amongst the bosses there.
‘It will mean that Gary gets a huge payday, it is an extremely popular show but when he left the BBC he took it with him.
‘This will mean that its profile will catapult again, as well as meaning that Gary will go to the World Cup after all, just in a very different capacity.’
Gary, who joined Match of the Day in 2000 after retiring from football, discusses the latest stories in the sport and is owned by the star’s production company Goalhanger Podcasts which was co-founded by him in 2022.
Following his departure from the BBC, it was announced that he will host a quiz show on ITV called The Box which will see celebrity contestants transported to unknown locations, where they will take part in different games.
Announcing his exit in May, Gary said in a statement that he did not see the image, and ‘would never consciously repost anything antisemitic’.
He added: ‘However, I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am. Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.’
Listener figures for his podcast are closely guarded but in July, The Rest is Football had more than 8million viewers on YouTube alone.
