Transfer deadline day: What actually happens during a football medical?

‘Subject to passing a football medical’ is a phrase oft-heard by football fans, but what does it actually mean, and how do players pass or fail?

“Subject to passing a medical” is one of the phrases you will have heard multiple times during the January transfer window, as clubs scramble to get their transfers over the line.

Put simply, if the player doesn’t pass the medical, then nine times out of ten the transfer cannot happen and therefore the “medical” process is fundamental to any transfer being completed.

But what exactly happens during a football medical?

Dr Ramzy Ross, Head of Sports and Human Performance at nanoM - a state of the art integrated health assessment clinic for the world of professional sports – shares his thoughts on the subject.

And follow the latest from the final day of the January transfer window.