Emmanuel Eboue Transfer 'On Hold' After 'Abnormal Blood Values' Found in Medical

Former Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue has had his transfer to Cypriot side Turk Ocagi Limasol put "on hold" after his medical revealed "abnormal blood values."

According to Goal's Chris Wheatley, Tekin Birinci—who acted as an intermediary in the deal taking the free agent to Cyprus—confirmed Eboue is now being medically evaluated in England and denied speculation in the Turkish media that the 34-year-old has been diagnosed with HIV:

"Eboue signed for a club and, as a normal procedure, we took him for a medical to check him out.

"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."

Birinci tweeted in September that Eboue had signed for Limasol:

The Ivorian, who made over 200 appearances for Arsenal, has just returned from a year out of the game after he was suspended by FIFA for failing to settle a €1 million debt he owed to his former agent, Sebastien Boisseau.

During his ban, Eboue is said to have kept up his fitness in Hungary while waiting to join a new club.

In an interview with The Telegraph's James Ducker last December, Eboue revealed his ban from the game had taken its toll: "There are a lot of days when I don’t feel like getting out of bed. One day I wanted to kill myself. My family keep me strong, it’s them that I have to think about but if I was alone, I worry about what I’d have done to myself by now."