Former Bolton striker Ivan Krasnić blames painkillers for ruining his health, blames his former club and confesses he could die at any moment after winning £4m in legal battle
Former Bolton frontman Ivan Krasnik has blamed painkillers for destroying his health and confessed he could have died at any moment. He played three seasons in the Premier League under Bolton, scoring 24 goals in 93 games before leaving in 2012.
The Croatian international had to undergo three kidney transplants after his undiagnosed kidney disease worsened due to painkillers given to him by his former club Werder Bremen.
He won almost £4 million in 2020 after being embroiled in a 12-year legal battle with Bremen doctors. The 45-year-old retired in 2013, but claims he could have died at any time due to the drugs he was given during his playing days.
Krasnick said in a German television documentary: “No one knows how long I have left. I have to be grateful that I’m still alive, even though I’m sick and need to take medicine. Of course I’m furious. I don’t want anyone to have to endure what I went through.”
“No matter how much compensation I receive, my health will not return. If I want to perform well on the field, it is difficult to survive without painkillers.
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“I don’t think you can play any professional sport without taking painkillers. But if I had known I had kidney problems, I wouldn’t have taken those drugs.” Krasnic won the German league and cup double with Bremen in 2004 and could add a Champions League hat-trick to his resume. He played for Nantes in France before moving to Bolton in 2009 and appearing in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final.
At the other end of the scale, players have spoken out about the level of addiction in the game, with former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland claiming he was at the most dependent on painkillers in a decade. He previously said, “I played so hard in the first game to not get hit by the press that I took (painkillers).”
“I felt less anxious when traveling away from home, and things just progressed from there. At first you think, ‘I’ll take it with me when I travel,’ but it just progresses and your body becomes tolerant of it, so you need more of it. They start to affect you mentally, and you become a completely different person.”
“In 2019, I got sick again, and then I went to rehab for the first time, and I was released from rehab again. What I didn’t do, and that’s who I am this time, is tell people that.”
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