Retro Gianluca Vialli Shirt – The Striker Who Conquered Genoa, Turin and London

Vialli's career began in 1980 at his hometown club Cremonese, where the teenage striker scored 23 goals in 105 league appearances and dragged the modest provincial side into Serie A. His performances caught the eye of Sampdoria's ambitious president Paolo Mantovani, who signed him in 1984 and paired him with Roberto Mancini in what became known as 'I Gemelli del Gol' – the goal twins. Together they delivered the most successful era in Sampdoria's history: three Coppa Italia triumphs, the 1989-90 European Cup Winners' Cup against Anderlecht, and the historic 1990-91 Scudetto, the club's first and only Serie A title. Vialli scored 85 league goals in Genoa and reached a Champions League final at Wembley in 1992, where Sampdoria narrowly lost to Johan Cruyff's Barcelona. In 1992, Juventus paid a then-world record fee to bring him to Turin, where he reinvented himself as a more mature target man, captaining the Bianconeri to the 1995 Serie A title and lifting the 1996 Champions League trophy in Rome against Ajax. Then came the bold leap to Chelsea, where Ruud Gullit signed him in 1996. Vialli became player-manager in 1998 and won the FA Cup, League Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and Super Cup. His Italy career produced 16 goals but a controversial omission from the 1994 World Cup squad. Decades later, his courageous public battle with pancreatic cancer, and his role as Italy's delegation chief during their Euro 2020 triumph, cemented his status as a beloved national hero.

No retelling of Vialli's career is complete without Roberto Mancini, his telepathic strike partner at Sampdoria and lifelong friend, with whom he embraced under the Wembley sky after Italy's Euro 2020 win – an image that moved the football world. At Sampdoria, manager Vujadin Boškov shaped him tactically, while teammates like Toninho Cerezo, Pietro Vierchowod, Attilio Lombardo and goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca formed the spine of that golden generation. At Juventus, Marcello Lippi sharpened his leadership instincts, and he shared a dressing room with Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, Fabrizio Ravanelli and a young Zinedine Zidane. His rivalry with AC Milan's Marco van Basten defined an era of Italian striker excellence. At Chelsea, he linked up with Gianfranco Zola, Frank Leboeuf and Dennis Wise, and his decision to drop himself for the 2000 FA Cup final remains one of football's most selfless managerial calls. Cesare Prandelli, his teammate at Juventus, would later succeed him in spirit on the Italian bench.

The retro Gianluca Vialli shirt collection is a designer's dream. The Sampdoria shirts of the late 1980s and early 1990s – with their distinctive blue base, white-red-black hooped chest band, and the iconic sailor crest – are among the most beautiful kits ever produced, and the Asics-made 1991 Scudetto edition is sacred to collectors. Vialli's number 9 on that blue jersey, often paired with the ERG sponsor, evokes a romantic age of Italian football. His Juventus shirts from 1992-1996, including the Kappa-made 1995-96 Champions League winner with the Sony or Danone branding, are equally coveted, particularly the unique pink-grey away kit. At Chelsea, his Umbro-made blue jerseys with the Coors or Autoglass sponsor, worn during the FA Cup-winning 1996-97 season and his player-manager years, capture the cosmopolitan reinvention of English football. Iconic moments – the bicycle kick celebrations, the Cup Winners' Cup goals, the Wembley 1992 captaincy – live on through these jerseys. Few collectors' walls feel complete without one.