Tottenham Hotspur struck gold when they signed Guglielmo Vicario this summer.
Spurs snapped up the world-class goalkeeper for less than £20million. He seamlessly replaced Hugo Lloris in between the sticks and helped the team enjoy a bright start to the Premier League season.
Tottenham’s gain has been the Serie A’s loss. Vicario‘s amazing form for Spurs has led to some wishing a top Italian had taken a chance on the 27-year-old instead of an English club.
Leonardo Semplici, who worked with Vicario at Cagliari, is one of those. The coach, who was most recently manager of Spezia would’ve liked to see the Spurs man continue to ply his trade in Italy.
Nevertheless, Semplici – speaking on TV Play – stresses that he’s happy to see Vicario thriving and enjoying his football at Tottenham.
“When I gave him his debut with Cagliari, Vicario’s qualities were already apparent,” he said.
“But I have to say that he surprised me too, obviously they were good to give him confidence at Empoli, to believe in him without giving weight to his potential mistakes.
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“So he had a great run and earned this chance to go to the Premier League. I would have preferred to see him in an Italian team, but unfortunately the market is open in every sense.
“What matters is that he is enjoying his adventure in a great team like Tottenham, and I hope he can also continue. I am also pleased to see him in the orbit of the national team.”
Tottenham’s gain is Serie A’s loss
This isn’t the first instance where an English club has swooped in to sign a talented Italian player and leaving Serie A’s top clubs in the lurch.
For instance, Leeds United snapped up Wilfried Gnonto from FC Zurich for a bargain fee – reportedly less than £4million – and he did so well for his club that he has been capped for Italy’s senior team.
At least with Gnonto you could argue that he wasn’t playing in Italy, but with Vicario, he was regularly delivering superb displays in Serie A with Empoli, and yet the nation’s big clubs hesitated.
Now, with Vicario becoming one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers, it’s extremely unlikely that the likes of Juventus, AC Milan and so on will be able to lure him back to Serie A in the near future.