Pierluigi Gollini was on Tottenham Hotspur’s radar right from Jose Mourinho’s days, when some of the members of the club were of the opinion that he is the right successor to Hugo Lloris who will be aged 36 by the end of the season. However, the deal eventually materialized for Gollini after Paulo Gazzaniga left the club, on a season-long deal from Atalanta to be the new number 2 and also to potentially become the No.1 for the club in the future.
When Gollini was signed, Lloris had 12 months left on his contract and was not sure whether he will continue beyond the 2021-22 season. The new goalkeeper was 1.94m tall and his strength is the ability to deal with crosses in an aggressive manner and that he prefers to play higher up on the field, and claimed the No.1 spot at Verona at the very young age of 19, after his early life at Manchester United where he was exposed to many things before departing to Italy to play for Verona.
The Italian International moved to England after falling out with the Atalanta manager Gasperini. He would have expected more from himself during his Tottenham carrier and to challenge for the No.1 shirt but he only started 10 matches mostly in UEFA Conference League and EFL Cup and only had 2 clean sheets under his belt with no Premier League appearances. Although he started in the EFL Cup semi-finals against Chelsea, in that game he made a jump to punch the ball but miserably failed which helped the Blues to win the match and to proceed to the finals of the EFL Cup.
Spurs had the buy option at €13m by the end of the season but seeing his performances there was a unified decision to not sign the Italian goalkeeper permanently from Atalanta.
Tottenham’s chief scout Leonardo Gabbanini described that the club had believed in Gollini and was expected to sign him after the expiry of the loan deal but was disappointed by his performance overall during the cup games.
Leonardo Gabbanini, speaking with Firenze Viola earlier this week around Gollini and his time in North London: “Pierluigi is a talent who has to find the right situation to give his best. He was with us in London last year, Tottenham believed in him a lot. A year behind Lloris was not easy, he has to find concentration.
“I have no doubt, however, that he is one of the strongest goalkeepers in Serie A. Here, you really work on short distances: there is an inch between doing well and doing badly. Just as the shot of concentration more or less distinguishes you from being a normal player or a champion.”
In his short carrier, had he had more clean sheets or had he performed incredibly well during that Semi Final against Chelsea, Spurs might have paid the money for him but all was eventually done for him at the London Club when Hugo Lloris signed an extension on January 21, 2022.
