Graeme Souness has paid an emotional tribute to his good friend Gianluca Vialli, who has died aged 58, describing the Italian as a “gorgeous soul”.
Vialli loved a profitable profession first in Italy with Sampdoria and Juventus, whom he captained to the Champions League, and later at Chelsea the place he grew to become supervisor and a massively well-liked determine. He additionally performed 59 instances for Italy, and was working within the nationwide crew setup earlier than taking a step again in December when the pancreatic most cancers which was first identified in 2017 reemerged.
Souness performed alongside Vialli at Sampdoria in the course of the Eighties, and paid tribute to him on Sky Sports News.
“I can’t tell you how good a guy he was. Forget football, he was just a gorgeous soul. He was just a truly nice human being. He was just fabulous to be around. He was such a fun-loving guy, full of mischief, wonderful footballer and a warm human being.
“People will say things about his magnificent football ability, and correctly so, but above all that what a human being. My condolences go to his family – the kids were blessed to have a dad like that, his wife was blessed to be married to a man like that.”
Before breaking down in tears, Souness added: “I’m no doctor but when I looked at him I thought I saw a man who was still in the fight when he was here [in the UK] during the Euros and they [Italy] managed to win it. I think it’s so typical of him that he kept it very private, very personal, it was his fight, he didn’t want to burden other people with it.”
Sampdoria tweeted “Goodbye, Luca” alongside an image of Vialli throughout his enjoying days on the membership, the place he received the Italian title in 1991 in addition to the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup and the Italian Cup thrice.
