Whilst we await confirmation of his actual permanent transfer to Atalanta after his 18-month loan out with the side, former Aston Villa goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini has begun giving a crash course into rewriting history.
Now fair enough, a young goalkeeper, moving country and divisions and all that entails, let alone factoring in the dressing room mood following relegation – well it was hardly a match made in heaven and although he showed glimpses of real talent between the sticks for us, his move from Verona goes down as one of our many failed transfer experiments in recent years.
20 games later for the now 23-year-old, he was out of the side and moved on as Steve Bruce placed his faith elsewhere. Gollini has excuses and he certainly wasn’t solely to blame for our start to life under Roberto Di Matteo but a recent interview with OGazetta Dello Sport via the Birmingham Mail, puts an entirely new perspective on things.
“In the Championship you play with great intensity, there are no tactics, it is different from the Premier League, which has changed so much thanks to the Italian coaches. Every game is a battle and the goalkeeper is always under pressure. Unfortunately, he was sacked, they didn’t give him time to work. I didn’t feel good with the new English coach and with his companions. On arrival, I was greeted coldly, while at the Atalanta everything was different. I played a lot with Aston Villa, but I wanted to go back to Italy.”
The man is obsessed with excuses and Italian coaches – but we knew that latter point anyway with previous revelations that he insisted on having an Italian coach to tuck him in at night.
I know players have to have a certain mentality for their own confidence purposes, but come on, grow a pair of balls even if you struggle to catch one. It’s hardly like he’s set European football on fire in his 13 games since January 2017 and put us to shame is it.
Cry baby
— Julian Jones (@juleslolo) June 19, 2018
Another player that needs someone to work everything out for him. Complained more than he played
— Guy Bradley (@GuyBradley) June 20, 2018
Whereas in Italy you get 20 minutes to have nap in most games…
— h avfc (@OnePabloAngel) June 19, 2018
So doesn’t want to step up to the plate and have to prove himself… ????♂️
— Daniel Irvine (@danirvine7) June 19, 2018
Well I guess he’d get found out in championship as he did in PL as he will in Serie A, @piergollo talks about no tactics helps if he knew how to save a goal and not pass to an opponent in his first game so basically bye n good riddance????????????????♂️????????
— ogeedj (@ogee1968) June 19, 2018
Pass Him a tissue
— David (@whitenite1823) June 19, 2018
Is it a football career he wants?! Or to be a lollypop man?
— Andrew Service (@AndoServise) June 19, 2018
