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.
Davide Astori died from sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 31, being found dead in his hotel room prior to a match, on 4 March 2018.
Early 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 Pizzighettone and Cremonese for the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons, respectively.
Cagliari
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. 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 in his being out for 3 months.
On 9 July 2012, Astori revealed he turned down a move to Russian side Spartak Moscow worth a €15 million (£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.
Roma
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.
Fiorentina
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.
