Edoardo Bove latest: Fiorentina star's Serie A career under threat after terrifying collapse against Inter as player faces similar dilemma to Man Utd's Christian Eriksen

Some players were left in tears when Bove went down untouched in the 16th minute of the Serie A clash. The Fiorentina midfielder was rushed to Careggi Hospital, with encouraging news on Monday confirming he was conscious and responsive.

Bove will undergo tests to determine whether he suffers from an underlying cardiac issue, according to La Nazione. Should the examinations determine that he needs to be fitted with a defribillator, the midfielder's career in Serie A would be over due to top-flight rules in Italy preventing players from competing with implanted heart-starting devices. Furthermore, players are banned at both amateur and professional level if they have any significant heart abnormalities. These are the same rules that forced Inter to terminate Christian Eriksen's contract after he suffered a cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark at Euro 2020.

While Bove, 22, was able to "laugh and joke" with team-mates when he spoke to them from hospital, Gazzetta report that he remains in the intensive care unit of the cardiology department. He will watch Wednesday's Coppa Italia tie against Empoli from his hospital bed with his family.

Medical staff acted very quickly to get Bove to hospital after he collapsed on Sunday. He was in the ambulance four minutes after going down and at Careggi Hospital nine minutes later.

"Everyone was shaken and nervous around us, but we worked calmly; we knew what to do," Giovanni Ghini, president of the team that treated Bove on the pitch, told Repubblica.

Doctors will continue to assess Bove, who is on loan at Fiorentina from Roma. He'll be hoping to see them beat Empoli on Wednesday evening as Raffaele Palladino's side try to reach the quarter-finals of the cup.