Daily Mirror

Lions eye Tarkowski

- BY JOHN CROSS

MAURICIO POCHETTINO paid a moving tribute to tragic Fiorentina captain Davide Astori and revealed he had tried to sign him for Southampto­n.

Italy internatio­nal Astori died suddenly, aged just 31, shocking the nation and leaving Serie A to postpone all games on Sunday out of respect.

Spurs boss Pochettino has suffered tragedy before, as manager of Espanyol when one of his players, Dani Jarque, died while on pre-season training in Florence.

There will be a minute’s silence before tonight’s match. Pochettino said: “I want to send all my condolence­s to all the people that love Davide Astori (above) – I think it’s a massive tragedy.

“I met him five years ago because it was my idea to sign him when we were at Southampto­n.

“I took three hours to have lunch with him and he was a great kid, great profession­al, great player.

“I was devastated to hear the news and we share the pain of all the people in Italy and Florence.

“It reminded me of what happened with Dani when I was manager of Espanyol.

“It’s so difficult to understand when these things happen.” GARETH SOUTHGATE is considerin­g calling up Burnley defender James Tarkowski for England’s pre-World Cup friendlies.

The Three Lions boss was at Turf Moor to watch Tarkowski and his teammate, keeper Nick Pope, before naming his squad to face Italy and Holland.

Southgate has been hit by a defensive crisis, with Manchester United’s Phil Jones and Everton’s Michael Keane out of form and Gary Cahill losing his place at Chelsea.

Keeper Tom Heaton is returning from injury, but Joe Hart is out of favour at West Ham and Stoke’s Jack Butland struggling for form.

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