Ugochukwu Ehiogu, Former England defender dies at 44

Former England and Aston Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu has died at the age of 44 after suffering a cardiac arrest at Tottenham’s training centre on Thursday.

A Spurs statement said Ehiogu died in hospital in the early hours of Friday.

Ehiogu, who was Spurs’ Under-23s coach, was capped four times by England.

“Words cannot express the shock and sadness that we all feel at the club,” said Tottenham’s head of coaching and development John McDermott.

“Ugo’s immense presence will be irreplaceable.”

He played in the Premier League with lengthy spells at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough.

Ehiogu made over 200 appearances for Aston Villa between 1991 and 2000 and then spent seven years at Middlesbrough.

He won the League Cup with Villa in 1994 and 1996, and also with Boro in 2004.

The centre-back also played for West Brom, Leeds, Rangers and Sheffield United, before retiring in 2009. He began coaching at Tottenham in 2014.

Villa will hold a minute’s applause before their Championship match against Birmingham City on Sunday, with both sets of players to wear black armbands.

Ehiogu was an England international, with a record of 4 caps and 1 goal.

In 2012, he came out of brief retirement by signing for non-league side Wembley to participate in the club’s FA Cup games alongside other retired veteran players.

Check out Ugochukwu’s last tweet on March 29, 2017