By By Elsie Udoh
Chelsea legend Gianluca Vialli passed away on Thursday at the age of 58 after a long fight with pancreatic cancer.
Vialli starred in football as Italy, Juventus and Chelsea striker before ending his career as Chelsea’s manager.
Below are 10 things to know about him.
1. Vialli began his career at age 15 after leaving school when he made his first-team debut for local side Cremonese, then in the Italian third tier, at age 16.
2. He scored 23 goals in 105 appearances for Cremonese which helped them reach Serie A within four years and earned him a move to Sampdoria, where he went on to become one of the leading strikers of his generation.
3. During a 16-year playing career in Italy, Vialli was a four-time Coppa Italia winner and won a series of trophies including the UEFA cup Winners’ cup.
4. 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.
5. He transferred from Sampdoria to Juventus in 1992 with a £12.5 million transfer making him the most expensive player at that time.
6. Before joining Chelsea in 1996, Vialli had triumphed as a Champions League winner, Serie A winner and a multiple European trophy-winning striker, with four Italian Cups to his name.
7. As a Chelsea Striker, he led the team to 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.
8. He was the youngest manager to win a major European title at the age of 33 and in only 208 days.
9. Vialli guided Chelsea to finish third place in the 1998-99 Premier League which was his last campaign as a player and bowed out with the winning goal in a 2-1 home win over Derby.
10. He became Chelsea’s most successful manager after leading the club to the FA cup win in 2000 before being sacked five games into the following season for his attitude towards the players.
