Former Stoke City defender Dionatan Teixeira has sadly passed away in his hometown of Londrina, Brazil.

The 25-year-old featured just twice in the Premier League but came out in the winning Stoke side on both occasions, with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa and a 3-1 win at Bournemouth.

Tragic news

News of his death came from most recent club Sheriff Tiraspol, of Moldova, who in a statement on their club website said: “Several hours ago, a good guy and a great footballer for our club Dionatan Teixeira passed away. The whole of the club is shocked this tragic news. The pain of loss is great.”

Prior to Stoke

Teixeira impressed the Stoke hierarchy when on trial in 2014 and they were quick to snap him up after his planned to Manchester City was halted due to visa problems.

The Brazilian youth player took out Slovakian citizenship having played for Dukla Banska Bystrica and joined the Premier League club for a fee around £400,000.

After his arrival in the Potteries he struggled for game time, so was loaned out to League 1 side Fleetwood Town where he made eight appearances.

In February 2017, Teixeira was allowed to join Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol on a free transfer.

He was part of their squad who completed the double last season, which saw them qualify for this season’s UEFA Europa League.

Teixeira was in his homeland of Brazil with his young family but had planned to return to Sheriff before his untimely passing.

Tributes

Yesterday, the official Stoke City twitter feed posted an image of players, staff and club officials holding a minute silence in memory of Teixeira at the clubs Clayton Wood training ground.

Stoke players were quick to take to social media to pay their respects to Teixeira with goalkeeper Jack Butland posting: “Devastated, such a positive and happy man. Sending all my love and wishes to your family.”

Marc Muniesa, who is currently on loan with Girona in La Liga tweeted: “RIP Tex, I will always remember you with a big smile.”

As a mark of respect, Fleetwood Town players wore black armbands in their first-round FA Cup tie at Chorley.