Former Hull City loanee Vito Mannone is looking for a permanent move away from Arsenal.
The Italian goalkeeper was quoted in The Sun as saying: “The ideal situation would be to let me go on loan and then make it permanent.”
He signed a contract until 2014 in January 2010 following a spell deputising in the Arsenal first team, making 8 appearances early in the 2009/10 season.
He joined Hull City on loan the following season. After an impressive start his loan was extended but injuries became a problem and in the last of his 10 appearances – the 2-4 home defeat to Middlesbrough that put paid to play-off hopes – he was taken off at half time.
Hopes of bringing the 23-year-old back to Hull were dashed when, in July, he set his sights on becoming Arsenal’s first choice, criticising Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski by saying “the other two keepers are not doing their job especially well.” After featuring in pre-season, Mannone hasn’t played a competitive game, only providing backup for Fabianski in one Carling Cup game, with Wojciech Szczesny starting every league game.
Hull City’s goalkeeper position remains an open question. Peter Gulacsi, on loan from Liverpool, has recently returned to the team due to injury to Adrian Basso but has failed to impress in his five starts to date. Basso, who took over from Gulacsi only three games into the season, will be 37 when his contract runs out at the end of the season, with the option of an extra year at City’s discretion.
Sounds like he had a bad game for Arsenal in the Champions League last night and was at fault for the goals. Anyone watch?