Mexico star Layun reveals: I had cancer but surgery saved me

Mexico defender Miguel Layun had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour and has been given the all-clear, he has announced. The 30-year-old, who joined Monterrey from Spanish club Villarreal in January, had a brief spell in England with Watford earlier in his career before moving to LaLiga via a stint with Porto.

He revealed that a routine check-up showed he had cancer but that it was caught at a stage where it could be removed by doctors. In a video interview released by Monterrey, Layun said: "My wife and I decided to have a general health check and there was a small surprise that neither my wife nor I had imagined.

"The first thing that I was told was that they had found a complex cyst." He added: "The question began to arise that it wasn't a cyst and was a tumour, but when you mention the word tumour and that it could be cancer, you see it in a different way.

"It was a malignant tumour - we were talking about cancer - and in the end the entire tumour had to be removed. "Thank God I can say that I had cancer, but it is already cured."

Layun, who is sitting out the Gold Cup because of his treatment, said he went for a final check on Friday and was told the cancer had been completely removed. "So now it's just a case of checking that it does not come back," said Layun, who initially was said to have been suffering from a kidney infection.

Layun began his career at Veracruz in Mexico before going on to play for Atalanta, Club America, Watford, Porto, Sevilla and Villarreal before joining Monterrey. He played for Mexico in the 2014 and 2018 World Cup finals and won the Gold Cup in 2015.