Marco Silvestri has thrown a bit of a strop after the signing of Rob Green, and has been told to go and train with the Under-21s.
The Yorksire Post are reporting that Silvestri left United’s pre-season training camp in Ireland yesterday and was due to begin training with the club’s development squad at Thorp Arch this morning.
So it seems that Silvestri is not keen on hanging around at Elland Road to fight for his place, and with several Italian clubs said to be interested in taking him back to his native land, the chances are that he’s made his last appearance in a Leeds jersey.
When Garry Monk assessed the Leeds squad he inherited, the new head coach decided that one of his priorities was to find a new goalkeeper, and wanted someone with more experience of English football. So Rob Green will start the season as first choice, and it looks like Ross Turnbull will be his deputy.
Silvestri has divided opinion among Leeds fans during his two years at the club. The 26-year-old is a good shot stopper on his day, but at other times has been prone to making costly errors, and rarely seemed to command his area as he struggled to adapt to the physical English game.
His finest hour came at Middlesbrough the season before last, when he kept the home side out with a string of brilliant saves, as we grimly held on to win 1-0 after an early goal from Alex Mowatt.
Silvestri has a bit of form when it comes to falling out with the various head coaches of the Cellino era, having been one of the infamous ‘sicknote six’ who refused to appear in a game at Watford as part of someone’s efforts to undermine Neil Redfearn.
I’ll miss him a little bit when he’s gone, but not that much.