Pierluigi Gollini sheds light on his time at Aston Villa

It’s been a wild few weeks for Pierluigi Gollini. First, he secured a permanent move back to Italy from Aston Villa, then he dropped an actual rap song. Seriously, he released his first single. Now? He’s spilling the dirt on his time at Aston Villa to the Italian media. The backpage of the famed Gazzetta dello Sport was translated by the folks over at SportsWitness. You can head over there for the full quotes.

What does Gollini say? Well, he digs out the tactical style of the Championship. In fact, he says that while the players of England’s second tier play with intensity, there are no tactics. At all. Which heaps pressure on the goalkeeper.

The Italian keeper seems to resent the fact that Roberto Di Matteo was dismissed, and claims that Di Matteo was barely given anytime at all to work (true enough).

The biggest deal of the interview, however, is in regards to current Villa boss Steve Bruce, who Gollini didn’t feel good under. At all. Gollini says that he was greeted coldly, which was at odds with his time in Atalanta, where he was welcomed. While he got a lot of game time at Villa, it seems now that it wasn’t worth it.

To put it bluntly, it seems that Gollini felt bad during his time at Aston Villa, and that the club didn’t go to many lengths at all to help their number one keeper. Stories did come out that Gollini left as he wanted an Italian coach, and while this might be true, he’d have stayed, surely, if he was treated differently by the current regime (based on his words). What’s more, Steve Bruce signed a goalkeeper on loan the second he got a chance. While Sam Johnstone was certainly a quality keeper, he wasn’t Villa’s to keep. Gollini was, and as good as Johnstone performed, you’ve got to think that this entire ordeal was a wasted experiment. Add the wasted money to the equation as well.

Gollini, of course, may have the last laugh here - as Villa scramble to keep their team together after play-off defeat. While he wasn’t Villa’s best goalkeeper of all time, it seems that his alleged treatment by the club might come to cost them, especially if they continue to cast-aside players that the coaching staff simply don’t like. Aaron Tshibola, Tommy Elphick and Ross McCormack will continue Gollini’s legacy now, as the new bomb squad.

That idea worked well before, didn’t it.