John Terry has paid an emotional tribute to fellow Chelsea legend Gianluca Vialli who has died aged 58 following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.
Former Chelsea player manager Gianluca Vialli has died aged 58 (Picture: AP)
The Italian Football Federation said Vialli’s death left an ‘unfillable void’, while Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali described an ‘awful day’, and vowed Vialli’s legacy would be ‘forever written’ at the club.
Vialli, who went on to enjoy huge success as manager at Stamford Bridge following his glittering playing career, was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017 and announced he had been given the all-clear in 2020 after treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
He was re-diagnosed with the disease in 2021 and announced last month that he had stepped down from his role as Italy’s national team delegation chief.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported before Christmas that his 87-year-old mother Maria Teresa and brother Nino had travelled to be with Vialli in a London hospital.
During a 16-year playing career in Italy, Vialli won every major trophy on offer, including Serie A titles with Sampdoria (1991) and Juventus (1995), the Champions League with the latter in 1996, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. He was also a four-time Coppa Italia winner.
He scored 16 goals in 59 appearances for Italy, featured in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups and helped the Azzurri to a third-place finish at the latter, while his £12.5million transfer from Sampdoria to Juventus in 1992 was a world record fee at the time.
Vialli joined Chelsea in 1996 and helped them win the FA Cup at the end of his first season before guiding the London club to glory in both the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup as player-manager the following season.
Terry was handed his senior debut by Vialli during his time in charge at Stamford Bridge and the club’s most successful ever captain admitted he had been left heartbroken by his former manager’s death.
He wrote on Instagram: ‘Hearbroken. Luca Vialli RIP. The man who gave me my debut at Chelsea and I will be forever grateful.
‘A true gentleman who will be truly missed. My love and condolences are with the Vialli family at this incredibly sad time.’
SOURCE: metro.co.uk
