Andrea Rinaldi, who played midfield for Italy’s Atalanta football club, is dead at the age of 19 after suffering an aneurysm, CNN reported.
Rinaldi joined Atalanta at the age of 13 and helped the team win the under-17 league title in 2016; he was praised in a team statement as “well-liked by everyone.”
Rinaldi was “in the prime of his years, with a life ahead and a career that promised bright goals” the statement said, calling the death a “sudden and shocking tragedy, impossible even to imagine.”
Club President Giovanni Munafò also gave his condolences.
“Andrea was coming to the training session and the first thing that he would do was to come to me and say, ‘Hi.'” Munafò said.
“This is a memory that I will carry in my heart. An extraordinary boy, an example to everyone. On behalf of the club, I express my most heartfelt condolences to the family.
“We’re sure that Andrea from up there will be the warrior he used to be here, fighting in the pitch to bring joy to the Legnano fans.”