It’s fair to say Pierluigi Gollini won’t have been thrilled to learn that Aston Villa were signing Sam Johnstone, who was loaned from Manchester United with the plan of getting experience, which would involve actually playing.
Gollini at 21 years of age hadn’t done too badly for Aston Villa, and the statistics on performance ratings (from Who Scored?) have the Italian with an average mark of 6.6 this season, compared to Johnstone’s 5.71 so far at Villa.
When the opportunity came to join Atalanta, Gollini took it, but he may be in a worse position now with regards to game time. Atalanta saw Marco Sportiello leave during the January transfer window, but it’s Etrit Berisha who is the number one, and he put in a brilliant performance recently against Sampdoria.
Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport say Gollini has been signed as a ‘luxury reserve’ for Atalanta, which makes it clear what his place in the squad is.
After exiting Aston Villa on loan, Gollini said: “I am very happy, I am happy and I thank Aston Villa. I also thank all at Atalanta, I can’t wait to get started. Sportiello has done very well, he is an a complete keeper and I hope to do just as well.”
That very much sounds like he thought it would be different. Swapping Aston Villa’s bench for Atalanta’s, when he probably had a better chance of pushing Johnstone aside, doesn’t make immediate sense, unless things change.
From Aston Villa’s perspective, counting on a loan player who doesn’t appear to be making a bigger impact so far also seems curious. Trying to get Gollini settled, and giving him more experience rather than a player owned by another club, seems the altogether more sensible option.
