Liverpool legend John Aldridge is shocked by the death of Dalian Atkinson.

The Aston Villa icon lost his life after being Tasered by police yesterday morning.

Aldridge played with Atkinson at Real Sociedad and told sundayworld.com: “I am struggling to come to terms with all this because Dalian and I were so close during our time together at Real Sociedad.

“He was a young lad coming into the Sociedad team at the same time as me and I took him under my wing for a year. We were room-mates, best pals and got on great on and off the pitch.

“Dalian was such a funny fella, great to be around. He was hilarious with some of the things he came out with. I can't tell you some of the stories from our time together as they might get him into trouble, but we became very close and did everything together during our time together at Real Sociedad.

“I felt like his baby sitter at times as he tried to settle in Spain and we got on like a house on fire. I suppose we were good for each other as we were both finding out feet in Spain and we also struck up a great striking partnership on the pitch as well.

“He was also one hell of a player. On his day, Dalian was unmarkable, with his pace, power and finishing frightening any defender that he came up against and it just seems impossible to imagine that he is gone at the age of 48.

“I haven't spoke to Dalian for a good while now, but he is the kind of lad you would bump into and instantly, you could pick up from where you left off. This all just seems unbelievable to me. Such a tragedy."