Emre Can's health was anything but smooth: due to numerous injuries, mainly in the muscular area, the midfielder had to pause again and again. During his time at Juventus Turin, however, the 29-year-old went through an even more difficult phase: Can now publicly told of a tumor at the time.

A tumor near the vocal cords is said to have been discovered in Emre Can during the medical check before moving to Juventus Turin in 2018. A few weeks later, his advisor advised him to have a more thorough examination. "I didn't even know what was going on. I didn't know anything about it, I've never heard of a thyroid gland and didn't know that there could be a tumor," said Can in an interview with DAZN.

Then it became clear: Emre Can had a tumor in the thyroid gland and urgently needed an operation. "The thyroid had to come out. That changed a lot in my life," said the 29-year-old. Fortunately, the illness was not life-threatening, since the examinations enabled timely action to be taken. To date, Can has had no after-effects either.

The Dortmunder advises everyone to have themselves checked regularly in order to be able to take action against such diseases in good time: "If you identify such things in time, you can act. It was in time for me and I am extremely grateful to the doctors for that."

Emre Can then switched from Liverpool FC to Juventus. He made 45 appearances for the Old Lady before joining Borussia Dortmund in winter 2020.

This article was originally published on 90min.com as Emre Can on life changing surgery: "I had a tumor".