David Busst, the former Coventry City defender, whose career was ended by a tackle almost 12 years ago, believes Eduardo needs emotional counselling as well as physical help as the Arsenal striker recovers from a badly broken leg.

Eduardo is recovering from emergency surgery after a tackle from Martin Taylor, the Birmingham City defender, in Saturday's Premier League match at St Andrews left him with a double compound fracture of his left leg.

"It is an understatement to say that Eduardo's mental state will be fragile right now - he will be anxious and frightened, there will be little space in his head for optimism and hope," Busst said.

"It is vital that he is put in a positive state of mind as quickly as possible. My doctor said to me quite early on that my leg might have to be amputated, then that I might never walk or run again.

"That didn't help; it was not what I needed to hear. Eduardo needs to be set small, achievable goals. First to concentrate on getting back walking, then jogging, then working on his fitness, then with the ball."

Busst, suffered extensive compound fractures to his right leg in a match against Manchester United in 1996 and never played again. After 26 operations he was still unable to make a return to football, but became so interested in injuries that he took up a clinical sports science course after he retired.

The 40-year-old has urged the doctors taking care of Eduardo not to hold back in telling the Brazilian-born Croatian the full extent of the injury.

"It may help Eduardo if he is told as much information about his injury as possible, what has happened to his leg and how the doctors intend to repair it," Busst said.

"If it's a clean break then he has a chance of perhaps training again within a year, but if there is severe muscle and tissue damage then the outlook is less optimistic.

"The doctors will have assessed the extent of the damage to Eduardo's leg by now and, taking his current emotional state into account, they may or may not have told him the diagnosis.

"Whatever that may be, he needs to be given as much positive news and encouragement as possible right now. His livelihood is under severe threat and that alone is a lot for any person to deal with."

The injury to Busst, caused when he collided with Manchester United's Denis Irwin and Brian McClair, was so bad that the match at Old Trafford was held up for 15 minutes while the blood was cleared off the pitch.