Italian hopeful Pierluigi Gollini hasn’t had the best of the last few years it’s safe to say.
Having arrived at Aston Villa under then manager Roberto Di Matteo, he managed to make 20 starting appearances for us before Steve Bruce took pity on him and shipped him out on a loan spell to Atalanta for 18 months.
It’s fair to say the kid does have something about him and his confidence went during a period where little was going right for the club – hence RDM’s departure – but his whining about not having an ‘Italian goalkeeping coach’ has always stuck with me like that played a part in him being unable to catch or save a ball at the end of his spell in the first team.
If you move to a different country, expect to learn new things and not stay in your safety blanket routine.
In any event, his spell at Atalanta wasn’t great, a year and a half with them has seen a total of 13 starting appearances, but it appears he has done enough to earn a potential deal and get himself back on track.
Gazzetta dello Sport reported this afternoon that the Italian club ‘had decided’ to pay 3.5million for the 23-year-old this summer to make the deal permanent.
No confirmation of this and I don’t remember a buy-clause in the loan deal being officially confirmed – although it would be strange on such a length of a loan for it not to be obligated.
In any event, it didn’t work out and ‘coach issues’ aside I wish him the best for the future.
Having reportedly signed him for £4.5million, the 3.5 Euro deal does see us take a hit, but with the factored in loan fee I’d be surprised if we were that short.
It chips away at Financial Fair Play issues in any event and from initial reactions nobody thinks his departure will define our season.
Good. Think he will become a good GK at some point, but not in England. Was not convinced before he joined and still stand by that really.
— Chrsmo (@Chrsmo) May 29, 2018
Good ????
— Bozzy (@bozzystuff) May 29, 2018
finally something positive
— g-win (@harry_gwynne98) May 29, 2018
