Graeme Souness pays touching tribute to ‘gorgeous soul’ Gianluca Vialli and breaks down in tears after death of former Sampdoria teammate
Graeme Souness paid a touching tribute to Gianluca Vialli and broke down in tears following the death of his former Sampdoria teammate.
Chelsea, Juventus and Sampdoria legend Vialli has died, aged 58, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Souness crossed paths with the iconic striker during his time at Sampdoria in the 1980s and the pair struck up a unique friendship.
While Vialli will be remembered as one of the finest Italian strikers of his generation, his class as a person left a lasting impression everywhere he went.
Souness joined Sky Sports News moments after the tragic news was announced and broke down in tears while trying to describe Vialli's special personality.
"When I looked at him I thought I saw a man who was still in the fight when he was here in the Euros," the Liverpool and Scotland legend said.
"I think it's so typical of him that he kept it so private, so personal and he took it on as I would expect him to take it on.
"It was his fight, he wanted to deal with it himself. He didn't want to burden other people with it..."
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Souness was unable to continue and the interview was cut short.
Earlier in his tribute, Souness fought back the tears as he talked about Vialli in the most heart-warming terms.
"I can't tell you how good a guy he was," Souness said. "Forget football for a minute, he was just a gorgeous soul. A truly nice human being.
"I went to Italy when I was 31-years old and he was 20. He was just fabulous to be around.
"He was such a fun-loving guy, full of mischief, such a warm individual. He was a fabulous player but I don't want to talk about his football, I want to talk about him as a human being.
"When I hear his name, and I will hear a lot of his name, correctly so from people paying plaudits to him and saying magnificent things about his playing ability - yeah, but what a human being.
"Above all that, what a human being. My condolences go to his family and his wife. They've been blessed that their paths have crossed. His kids are blessed to have had a dad like that and his wife is blessed to have married a man like that."
Souness added: "There are very few people I can think of... I couldn't tell you nine other people who have impacted my life like he has.
"Not because he did anything for me in particular, I was a senior pro then. But just witnessing him around other people and the impact he had on them.
"If you're in his company once, I think you'll remember him for the rest of your life. He was just a really, really special person."