Remember Hannover’s Signing That Turned Out To Be 9cm Shorter Than Advertised? He’s Also Got Tuberculosis…

Chris Wright

23rd, February 2013

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By Chris Wright

Signing of the season

Remember, not so long ago, when Hannover 96 found they had been quite literally short-changed over their new €1.3 million January signing, midfielder Franca, when the Brazilian was found to be a full 9cm shorter than he was being billed by his former club Criciuma?

It all came to light when Hannover coach Coach Mirko Slomka, 1.87m tall, found he was towering over a player who was supposedly 3cm taller than him.

Well, now Hannover have announced that their blockbuster signing is not only a midget, he’s also suffering from tuberculosis – which we thought only affected Victorian strumpets and badgers – and is likely to miss the last few months of the Bundesliga season.

Hannover sporting director Jorg Schmadtke released the following statement:

“We are very sorry for Franca but the most important thing is that he recovers and returns healthy.

“After treatment he will continue his career as a footballer according to the doctors. That is important and good news for him and us.”

It’s thought that Franca contracted the virus while traveling from Germany back to his homeland. The club are fairly sure that none of their other players have caught the disease from him, but they’re planning on conducting a raft of blood tests on their squad over the coming weeks.

Like we said the first time, we really hope Hannover kept the receipt for this one.

(Via Yahoo Sport)