Gianluca Vialli: clubbable gentleman off the pitch, deadly on it

Gianluca Vialli's death on Friday robbed Italian football of an iconic figure of its golden era, a powerful yet studious centre-forward who won almost every honour and was one of the English Premier League's first big-name foreign imports.

Vialli, who had battled pancreatic cancer since 2017 before finally succumbing to what he called "an unwanted guest" at the age of 58, was the archetypal Italian 'signore', a well-dressed, well-spoken gentleman who nonetheless thrived in the bruising world of Italian football.

His glittering club career saw him at one point become the world's most expensive player when Juventus paid Sampdoria 16.5 million euros in 1992 and he ended his career with one final successful spell at Chelsea.

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The son of a self-made millionaire, Vialli grew up in a 60-room castle in his native Cremona.

His bustling style of forward play belied his comfortable upbringing and led him to the greatest heights at club level.

During most of the 1980s and early 1990s he was part of a devastating strike partnership at Sampdoria with Roberto Mancini, one of Italy's most naturally gifted players of the era, which carried the Genoa-based team to unprecedented levels of success and led to them being nicknamed "the goal twins".

In eight years at Sampdoria, Vialli won the club's only Serie A title in 1991, the previous year's Cup Winner's Cup and three Italian Cups.

They also came to within a hair's breadth of winning the European Cup in 1992, being narrowly beaten by Johan Cruyff's Barcelona 'Dream Team'.

London calling

Vialli was one of the first leading players to leave a club on a free transfer thanks to the Bosman ruling, departing