Former Sampdoria coach Renzo Ulivieri has paid tribute to Trevor Francis.

The twice European Cup winner passed away on Monday at the age of 69.

Ulivieri worked with Francis at Samp and told TMW: "He was an exceptional footballer, a striker with great technique. Too bad he came to us with some physical problems, otherwise he could have made history for years.

"In the first three games we won at home against Juve, away against Inter and in Genoa against Roma who would go on to win the Scudetto. And to think that we came from Serie B. Francis was a modern player, he made moves that I didn't even know, because he was already prepared for attacking the area, while in our country there was still man-marking with the libero behind.

"President Mantovani had fallen in love with him at the World Cup and he was saying to me, 'I got a great centre-forward', It was a great move, then unfortunately the injuries penalised him, it was a troubled path but he was really strong."