Premier League strugglers Aston Villa reportedly want to bring goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini back to the club from Serie A high-flyers Atalanta.
Pierluigi Gollini has labelled Aston Villa a ‘great club’ amid speculation that the Atalanta goalkeeper could be heading back to the Midlands this summer, while speaking during an Instagram Q&A with Damiano ‘Er Faina’.
If the fresh-faced Italian moved to Villa Park too early in his career during the summer of 2016, it is fair to say he looks ready for a return four years on.
Gollini lasted only half a season at one of English football’s sleeping giants with a series of high-profile errors seeing the one-time Manchester United youngster farmed back to Serie A after losing the faith of manager Steve Bruce.
Flash forward to the present day and Gollini is rapidly establishing himself as one of the finest shot-stoppers in Europe.
He is the unsung hero of a free-flowing Atalanta side who have reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time, with the 25-year-old’s eye-catching displays rewarded with a maiden Italy cap in 2019.
Gazzetta dello Sport suggest that Aston Villa would jump at the chance to re-sign Gollini, who is rated at £16 million, this summer, although a deal is only possible if the Villans pull off an escape from relegation danger.
“It’s a great club,” Gollini says, claiming that he rejected Juventus to join Roberto di Matteo’s Villa in 2016. “Things did not go as I hoped.
“Then came Atalanta. At the beginning I didn’t play much (but) I always believed in my choice. There was a moment when I wanted to go away from Atalanta. I was close to joining SPAL and, when I wasn’t playing, I was going to the Bundesliga.
“But I stayed.”
Considering how well things have gone for player and club in the last 18 months or so, Gollini will be glad he did.
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