A YOUNG professional footballer whose death at the age of 23 is being widely mourned started out as a youngster playing at East Thurrock United.

As a teenager Christian Mbulu played with Rocks' youth teams, before moving into the semi-pro game at Brentwood.

While he was at Brentwood, he played a total of 72 games across two seasons including a play-off winning 2014–15 campaign of the Isthmian League North.

From there he was picked up by Millwall and has since had a number of spells with professional clubs including Motherwell and Crewe before joining League Two Morecambe in January. The Shrimpers' manager Derek Adams pays tribute to him here.

Among many other tributes paid to London-born Mbulu was one from Crewe manager David Artell who said: "He was always smiling, he was an optimistic guy, and you could see that he'd been brought up properly.

"He had good morals, his work ethic was terrific, and he was everything you'd want in a human being really. It's so sad."

The cause of his death has not been revealed though some sources have linked it to a heart condition. Lancashire police attended an address at Cottam near Preston on Tuesday afternoon and a force spokesperson said: "We were called at around 1.30pm to reports of a sudden death. We attended and sadly found the body of a man aged in his 20s.

"There are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death and a file will be passed to the coroner in due course."

Millwall FC have also paid tribute to the player, who has a young daughter, saying: "Our hearts go out to his family and friends at this immensely difficult time."

One of those friends is Aveley FC player Alex Akrofi, who tweeted a picture of them together and said: "My heart is broken. Our daughters are a month apart. We went through that journey together. I can't believe it. I only spoke to him 24 hours ago, Now he's not here."