Former Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli battled cancer in secret but says he is 'fine now'

Gianluca Vialli has revealed he kept a cancer battle secret

Former Chelsea striker and manager Gianluca Vialli has been battling cancer in secret for the last year but says he is "fine now."

Vialli joined Chelsea as a player in 1996, scoring 40 goals in 78 games in all competitions for the Premier League club, who he went on to manage in 1998.

The 54-year-old led Chelsea to FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup titles while in a player-manager role, and he went on to have a brief spell managing Watford before beginning a job in the media.

Vialli made his revelation in an interview with Corriere della Serra, hoping his story - after eight months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiotherapy - will inspire others who are battling cancer.

He said: "I'm fine now, very well indeed. It's been a year and I'm back to having a beastly physique, although I still have no certainty of how this match will end.

We love this guy. Best wishes from all of us at Chelsea to Gianluca Vialli. We're all thinking of you, Luca. pic.twitter.com/oBvgsH1uXp — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 26, 2018

"I knew it was hard and hard to have to tell others, my family. You would never want to hurt the people who love you: my parents, my brothers and my sister, my wife Cathryn, our little girls Olivia and Sofia. And it takes you as a sense of shame, as if what happened to you was your fault.

"I used to wear a sweater under my shirt so no-one noticed anything. I was still the Vialli everyone knew, then I decided to tell my story and put it in the book.

An FA Cup final triumph was part of Vialli's success during his time with Chelsea

"I hope my story can inspire people, who are at crucial intersections of their lives, and I hope mine is a book to keep on the bedside table so people can read one or two stories before falling asleep or in the morning as soon as they wake up.

"Life is made up of 10 per cent of what happens to us, and 90 per cent of how we handle it. I hope that my story can help others to deal with what is happening in the right way."