Vialli played for Italy at the 1986 and 1990 World Cups before becoming a heroic figure at Chelsea, where he won European Cup Winners’ Cup and FA Cup
By Kehinde Okeowo
Chelsea legend, former Italian forward, pundit and former manager, Gianluca Vialli has passed away at the age of 58.
Vialli started his club career at Cremonese in 1980 in his native Italy where he made 105 league appearances scoring 23 goals.
His performances impressed another Serie A club, Sampdoria who signed him in 1984, during which time he scored 85 league goals and won three Italian cups, the Serie A and the European Cup Winners Cup.
Vialli was snapped up by Italian giants, Juventus for a world record £12.5 million in 1992. During this time he won the Italian Cup, the Serie A, Italian Supercup, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
He played for the Azzurri at the 1986 and 1990 World Cup and later became a heroic figure at Stamford Bridge thanks to European Cup Winners’ Cup and League Cup successes in 1998 before winning the FA Cup in 2000.
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He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but he beat the illness before it returned in late 2022.
On retirement from playing, he went into management and worked as a commentator for Sky Italia. He was part of the Italy national team’s non-playing staff as a delegation chief; however, he stepped down from this role due to his battle with cancer.
After his death, West London club Chelsea described him as a “Chelsea legend…loved by fans, players and staff at Stamford Bridge”.
While Club chairman, Todd Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali said in a statement: “This is truly an awful day for Chelsea Football Club. Gianluca’s legend will live on at Stamford Bridge. His impact as a player, a coach and most importantly as a person, will be forever written across our club’s history.”