Fiorentina have announced the passing of director general Joe Barone.

Barone suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday and while he underwent successful surgery, he failed to recover.

Fiorentina released a statement earlier today: "With deep pain and immense sadness, Fiorentina today loses one of its points of reference, a figure who has marked the recent history of the Club and which will never be forgotten. The General Director Giuseppe Barone, after the illness which occurred on Sunday, passed away today at the 'San Raffaele' hospital in Milan.

"Rocco Commisso and his family, Daniele Pradè, Nicolas Burdisso, Alessandro Ferrari, Vincenzo Italiano, Cristiano Biraghi and all of Fiorentina are destroyed by the terrible loss of a man who offered his great professionalism, his heart and his passion for these colours, of a friend available and always close in all moments, both the happiest ones and, above all, the most difficult ones.

"The entire viola world embraces his wife Camilla, his children and the entire Barone family in this moment of enormous despair."