Davide Astori (7 January 1987 – 4 March 2018) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a central defender.

After playing youth football for Pontisola, Astori started his senior career with Milan, spending loan spells with Pizzighettone and Cremonese. In 2008 Cagliari signed him in a co-ownership deal, before signing him fully from Milan, for whom he never made a first team appearance, in 2011. He later spent loan spells at Roma and Fiorentina. He made his international debut for Italy in 2011 and represented his country 14 times, scoring one goal.

Astori died from a heart attack at the age of 31, being found dead in his hotel room prior to a match.

Club career

Born and raised in the province of Bergamo, Astori started playing football with local team Pontisola before joining Milan in 2001. He spent five years in the club's youth system, after which time he was sent on two consecutive loan spells to Serie C1 clubs Pizzighettoneand Cremonese for the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons respectively.

At the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Astori was signed by Serie A club Cagliari in a co-ownership deal with Milan, for €1 million. He made his official debut in the top-flight during an away game against Siena on 14 September 2008, coming on as a substitute in the second half.

In June 2009, the club renewed their ownership with AC Milan to keep Astori at Cagliari for another year.[8] Astori replaced Diego López and made 34 appearance and scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw against Fiorentina on 31 January 2010. On 28 February 2010, Astori scored his second goal in a 2–1 loss against Chievo. On 3 April 2010, Astori scored an own goal against A.C. Milan to allow Milan scored the third goal in the match which Cagliari lost 3–2. During his second season at Cagliari, rumours spread when A.C. Milan was keen to sign Astori but nothing happened. Despite the rumours, Astori was keen to rejoin AC Milan in the summer.

The club renewed their ownership with AC Milan to keep Astori at Cagliari for another year in June 2010.

On 22 June 2011 the club bought the residual 50% registration rights from Milan for another €3.5 million. (pre-agreed €1 million tagged in 2008 and additional €2.5 million) After making 8 appearance at the start of the season, Astori suffered a Fractured Foot in a match against Napoli on 23 October 2011 following an intervention by Ezequiel Lavezzi and have to come off on the 21 minutes in a 0–0 draw. His injury resulted him out for 3 months.

On 9 July 2012, Astori revealed he turned down a move to Russian side Spartak Moscow worth 15 million euro (£11.9 million) fee after agreement between two clubs. Astori explained turning down a move to Spartak Moscow because he wanted to stay at Cagliari and achieve his goals with the club.

On 24 July 2014, Cagliari announced Astori's move to Roma on a season-long loan deal. The transfer was settled in €2 million and Roma holds the option to make it permanent at the end of the season for another €5 million. Astori renewed his contract with Cagliari a day before the Roma transfer.

On 4 August 2015, Astori signed on loan for Fiorentina until the end of the season with an obligation to buy.

At the beginning of 2017–18 season, Astori was appointed as the team captain following the departure of Gonzalo Rodríguez.

International career

Astori played 4 games for Italy's under-18 team, beginning in 2004. He did not receive any further call-up at higher levels of youth international football.

Astori got his first call-up for the senior team under newly appointed coach Cesare Prandelli who named him in the squad for a friendly against Côte d'Ivoire, to be played on 10 August 2010, however, he was left as an unused substitute. He made his full debut for Italy on 29 March 2011, in a 2–0 friendly won against Ukraine in Kiev. He came on as a 17th-minute substitute for the injured Giorgio Chiellini but was sent off with 15 minutes remaining in the second half after receiving two yellow cards. 

Astori was a member of the Italy squad that took part at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, reaching the semi-finals, only to suffer a penalty shoot-out defeat to Spain; he scored a goal against Uruguay in the third place match, as Italy prevailed on penalties to win the bronze-medal, following a 2–2 draw after extra time.

Style of play

Astori was a tall, consistent, and physically strong left-footed central defender, with good aerial ability and reliable technique, who was comfortable in both a three-man or a four-man defence.

Death

On 4 March 2018, Astori died from sudden cardiac arrest whilst staying in a hotel in Udine prior to Fiorentina's match against Udinese. A club statement said "Fiorentina are profoundly shaken and forced to announce that their captain Davide Astori has died." All Serie A and Serie B matches on 4 March were postponed.