Premier League Aston Villa may be in the market for a new goalkeeper – could Atalanta’s Serie A star Pierluigi Gollini make a shock Villa Park return?
Aston Villa are interested in bringing Pierluigi Gollini back to the Midlands this summer, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, two years after the sold the Atalanta goalkeeper for £3.3 million.
Back in the summer of 2016, a recently-relegated Aston Villa side appeared to pull off a rather sizeable coup when they snapped up one of Europe’s most highly-rated shot-stoppers from Hellas Verona.
Gollini, at the time, was labelled the ‘new Gianluigi Buffon’ back home in Italy and with good reason. Though, with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps a move to England’s second tier came too soon for youngster who had less than 30 career appearances under his belt.
The Championship can be a brutal, unforgiving world and Gollini found that out the hard way. After just 20 games, the one-time Manchester United trainee was on his way back to Italy with manager Steve Bruce admitting that Villa had perhaps expected too much too soon.
“I think it was a little bit too early for Pier, at this stage of his career, to come to Villa,” the coach, who replaced Gollini with veteran Mark Bunn, told the club’s official website.
Two years on, however, Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Aston Villa are now willing to overlook that ill-fated spell in the Midlands as they plot a shock deal to bring Gollini back to the club he represented for just six months.
The goalkeeper-turned-rapper has blossomed in mainland Europe, shining as a thrilling Atalanta side reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time while earning a first ever Italy call-up under Roberto Mancini.
But could this be a classic case of once-bitten-twice-shy for a man who will not remember his first spell at Villa Park with much fondness?
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