Back in August, Tottenham decided to revamp their scouting staff a bit by appointing Leonardo Gabbanini as their new chief scout.
It was reported in England, as the 42-year-old left his role at Watford and Udinese, where he was working for the Pozzo family, to join Fabio Paratici behind the scenes at Spurs.
While he won’t have had too much say on Tottenham’s summer transfer window, he certainly will be a big part of trying to find the right players to help Antonio Conte going forward.
Having worked for Fiorentina in the past as their head of Academy Coaching, Gabbanini sat down with Radio Firenze Viola to discuss a few matters, including how things are going in England.
He said: “It’s going well, it’s a completely different reality. I’ve been working there for five years. Before, I was at Watford as a Chief Scout. Now at Tottenham, it’s a different world, there’s very high value in everything you do. In short, it’s hard, but it also gives great satisfaction.”
Gabbanini was then asked about Pierluigi Gollini, who was at Tottenham on loan last year, but hardly ever featured due to the presence of Hugo Lloris, who remains the club’s number one to this day, even at the age of 35.
He explained that while Spurs ‘believed in him a lot’, he admits that ‘a year behind Lloris was not easy’, which has affected him a bit this season.
As for the player who marked him the most in his career, he admits it has to be Federico Bernardeschi, who decided at 28 to head to Toronto FC, and leave Juventus on a free.
Gabbanini said: “I had a special relationship with Bernardeschi, in my time, he mixed a decisive character with an extreme quality and an important maturity. Maybe everyone saw him as a boy who didn’t have his head on, but he had it all right.
“He had a heart problem when I trained him, and didn’t do the final phases, but this strengthened him a lot. He made a mental change so strong that I felt sorry. The Bern I met could have been captain of the national team, on the other hand, has been waning for reasons I obviously don’t know.”
