Manchester United and Premier League champion Mark Bosnich believes his rekindled friendship with Socceroos teammate Robbie Slater has saved his life.

When Bosnich, 52, started getting chest pains last week, Slater told him to get himself to a doctor straight away.

Bosnich had become concerned after completing a workout and feeling unusual pains below his throat. 

Bosnich was told he had a 70 per cent blockage in an artery in his heart and soon after had surgery to install a stent.

Mark Bosnich says his rekindled friendship with Robbie Slater has saved his life

Slater, who has known Bosnich for nearly 40 years, told him to seek medical attention

‘Without a check-up, I was a ticking time bomb,’ Bosnich told News Corp.

‘If I hadn’t had the tests, over the next 12 to 18 months I would have had a heartbreak, very much so.

‘If I didn’t get it checked it could have been serious. It was certainly a wake-up call, especially when you’re over 50. I am so grateful to Robbie, mum and Max.’

Slater also spoke of Slater’s health scare.

‘Bozza’ twice told me he had pains in his chest,’ Slater said.

‘I told him to get straight off the phone and get your heart checked.

‘I told him not to muck around, just go and get an angiogram. He said, ‘You’re right, I’m going.’

‘He likened it to a ticking time bomb. The great story here is that he went and got checked out. A lot of men wouldn’t.’

Bosnich (pictured) won the Premier League title with Manchester United in 2000

Slater (pictured) won the Premier League title with Blackburn Rovers in 1995

Slater and Bosnich have recently patched up their friendship after falling out in 2022.

‘We have fallouts all the time,’ Bosnich said.

‘Robbie and I have patched things up. We’re back to speaking to each other seven times a day.

‘I have known Robbie for nearly 40 years, for goodness sake.’

Bosnich was back at work on Friday last week after his operations.

The keeper, who famously dated model Sophie Anderton during his playing days in England, married his long-term partner Sara Jones in a lavish wedding ceremony last year.

The Australian’s former United teammate Dwight Yorke was by his side as best man.

Bosnich and Jones, 35, have been together for 12 years, and faced a long wait for their happy day, having got engaged in 2018.

The pair have two children together, 10-year-old Allegra and five-year-old Cassius; who both took part in the bridal party.