Atalanta will sell Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa target Pierluigi Gollini for a fee of £23 million, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, with Mattia Perin lined up as a replacement for the Italy international goalkeeper.
Considering that Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are the exponent of perhaps the most exciting attacking football in European football, it is no real surprise that the man at the other end of the pitch has been forced to accept ‘unsung hero’ status.
But Gollini is just as essential to Atalanta, Champions League quarter-finalists, as influential captain Papu Gomez, prolific winger Josip Ilicic or rampaging targetman Duvan Zapata.
Gazzetta dello Sport have even suggested that Aston Villa could return to re-sign a goalkeeper they sold back to Italy after just half a season between the sticks in the Midlands. Tottenham are also interested, with ageing Frenchman Hugo Lloris not getting any younger.
And while Atalanta would obviously love to keep hold of a man who joined Villa during the short-lived Roberto di Matteo era, it seems that Serie A’s high-flyers are preparing themselves for a worst-case scenario.
They have identified another Italian shot-stopper, Genoa’s Mattia Perin, as the man capable of taking Gollini’s place in the starting XI if they receive an offer they cannot refuse – one in the region of £23 million to be precise.
But with the market embroiled in a status of incessant uncertainty, what are the chances of Aston Villa really paying £23 million for a man they once sold for just £3.3 million?
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