Ligue 1 club, Montpellier have confirmed that one of its players, Junior Sambia is in a coma with symptoms of the coronavirus.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down football all over Europe for over a month ago and has developed in different ways across various countries.
Midfielder, Sambia is the first Ligue 1 player to test positive for the coronavirus, but he is in an induced coma.
This was confirmed by his agent Frederic La Guerra in an interview with Le Parisien.
“He (Sambia) suffered three days of severe diarrhea, like gastroenteritis. Then, on Tuesday morning, he went to the hospital. I reached him when he was on an IV,” Le Guerra said.
“He had just received the COVID-19 test result. This one was negative. He was due to leave on Wednesday, then his condition worsened with his lungs.
“It grew more complicated in transit. He went back to the same hospital, then he changed hospitals twice before being placed in an induced coma,” he concluded.
Montpellier had earlier released a statement that one of their players had been hospitalised due to ‘digestive and respiratory problems’ – but the club did not make any link to the coronavirus.
Sambia has made 22 games appearances for Montpellier in all competitions for the club this season, scoring one goal.
France currently has had more than 159,000 positive cases of the novel coronavirus, with 22,245 deaths.
Football across the country has been suspended indefinitely with Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macron extending the national lockdown through until May 11.
Ligue 1 are planning to resume the season on June 17 behind closed doors, but that hinges on getting the green light from central government.
