Graeme Souness said on Monday that his former Liverpool and Scotland teammate Alan Hansen is recovering well after the Merseyside club said he was “seriously ill in hospital” last week.

Souness and Hansen played together at Liverpool between 1978 and 1984, winning five league titles and three European Cups in that time. They amassed a combined 80 caps for Scotland.

“I spoke to him yesterday, and he sounded fabulous, so I hope he’s on the way to a full recovery,” Souness told Talksport. “He’s definitely on the way back because he did nothing but take the mick out of me, so he’s definitely on the way back.

“I was speaking to his son and his Janet his wife, and I’d been phoning his [Hansen’s] phone number.

“I get on the train yesterday and I’m looking for my seat, and my phone rang and I could see it was ‘Big Al.’

“I’m thinking, ‘Oh. I don’t want to answer that,’ so I sat down and then I got the courage to phone back and he answered the phone.

“He’s been in a difficult place, but the way he sounded yesterday, he’s back, and I hope I’m right.”