Football legend and recovering alcoholic George Best is undergoing a liver transplant in London's Cromwell Hospital.

The former Manchester United and Northern Ireland star went into theatre on Tuesday morning.

This is very good news but there is still a worrying wait ahead

Agent Phil Hughes

Best was called at home at 0600BST and surgeons began operating four hours later.

At 1830 Best's consultant Professor Roger Williams said: "George Best is still in theatre - it's been a difficult operation but reasonable progress is being made."

His wife Alex is with him at the hospital.

Best, who had been waiting for a donor, had just returned from holiday in Malta.

Waiting over

In his column in the Mail on Sunday over the weekend, the 56-year-old wrote: "We have been a bit naughty, because I should be stuck at home waiting for a call telling me the transplant is on and to high tail it to the hospital.

"But I have been waiting for almost eight months now and have cancelled holiday after holiday."

His agent Phil Hughes told BBC News Online that he had seen Best at the hospital ahead of the operation.

"He was absolutely fine," he said.

He said the former footballer was not getting any worse but also was not getting any better.

"This is very good news but there is still a worrying wait ahead."

In December Best was told he needed a transplant following medical confirmation that his liver was only functioning at 20%.

Mr Williams, who is director of the Institute of Hepatology at University College London, said then that the conditions were right for the operation to go ahead.

History of illness

At the time he said: "A liver transplant is very much a routine procedure although it is a very big procedure.

"It is done very widely when the indications are there medically and the results on the whole are terrific".

Earlier that month he had been admitted to hospital in Limassol, Cyprus suffering from a fever and a gastrointestinal tract infection.

The star underwent extensive treatment for liver damage at the Cromwell Hospital two years ago.

He was warned then that if he ever drank again it could kill him.

And in February last year Best, who now works as a sports commentator, was treated at Belfast City Hospital for pneumonia.

Best has battled with drink all his life, getting arrested in 1984 for drink-driving and assaulting a police officer.