He was so bright and made you laugh, too

I WAS fortunate to play for some of Europe’s biggest clubs, but nowhere was happier for me than at Middlesbrough because of the fantastic camaraderie between the players.

Ugo was at the forefront of that. He was so bright and friendly and he made you laugh as well.

After training, we’d play a game where we’d take it in turns to shoot from outside the box and if you scored you went in goal.

Ugo didn’t score that many but if he sent in a shot that went narrowly wide, he’d accompany it with lots of oohs and aahs, pretend crowd noises — as if we had a full stadium watching.

I have received a lot of calls and texts from England. It shows how much respect people had for Ugo and how they are hurting.

The loss we all feel, but particularly his young family, is massive.