Fabio Paratici seems to be making his mark at Tottenham rather quickly. The nearly finalised swap deal with Sevilla, exchanging Erik Lamela & £21.4m for Bryan Gil, along with advanced talks for Atalanta’s Cristian Romero, have given fans a reason to be excited.
Paratici and Tottenham’s first official signing of the summer also comes from the region of Bergamo.
Earlier today, Spurs announced the arrival of goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini from Atalanta on loan with an option to buy for £12.8m. The option to buy becomes an obligation if Gollini reaches 20 appearances.
Gollini’s football journey has been interesting to say the least. The Italian goalkeeper began his career with spells at Spal and Fiorentina before making the audacious decision to sign for Manchester United at 15 years old, swapping his native Italy for England.
Pierluigi would spend three years with the Red Devil’s, playing with the likes of Paul Pogba, Adnan Januzaj, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard before returning to Italy with Hellas Verona in 2014.
His time with Hellas Verona was overall an impressive one, but the clubs relegation to Serie B led to another brief spell in England, this time with Aston Villa in 2016.
Gollini would make 20 appearances during his time in Birmingham before being loaned out to Atalanta for 18 months.
Atalanta would make Gollini’s stay at the club permanent in June 2018 for an undisclosed fee.
He was originally given the role of backup goalkeeper, but would make a name for himself in the second half of the season earning the number one spot for La Dea and a senior cap for the Italy national team.
Gollini’s rise in the footballing world was parallel to Atalanta’s, as the Serie A side would go from fighting relegation to three straight years of Champions League qualification.
Having made his third move to England, Gollini will be wanting to prove to Spurs fans that he is the man to replace Hugo Lloris in North London.
So, what are we supposed to expect from Gollini?
The 26 year-old goalkeeper is prone to coming off his line often, in order to intimidate the opposing attacker. Gollini is thought to be a rather demanding player, who remains concentrated on the task at hand and expects his defenders to do the same.
Gollini’s distribution looks to be a perfect match for Nuno Espírito Santo’s system. As his ability to complete a range of accurate passes allows the team to create counter-attacks in an instance but also build from the back if needed.
Gollini’s nine clean sheets in 25 matches ranked third-best in Serie A during the 2020/21 season – only Donnarumma and Handanovic conceded fewer goals.
“I had proposals from Italian clubs but Tottenham are the best one! I respect Hugo Lloris, he’s a great goalkeeper and I’m proud to work with him at Spurs” said Gollini.
Having already expressed his excitement about working with Hugo Lloris, Spurs will be hoping that Gollini will pick the brain of Lloris during his loan stay before taking the reins himself.
There are many reasons to be optimistic for the Italian’s future in North London and now it’s time for the potential number one of the future to get down to business.
By Reece Coughlan
Hotspur Hive 