Benvenuti Viviano, a new Italian goalkeeper at Arsenal

By Walter Broeckx

 

As promised I will now try to shed some light over our other incoming transfer of transfer deadline day: Emilio Viviano.

 

He is an Italian goalkeeper who last played for Fiorentina. Fiorentina ended up in 4th place last season in the Serie A. They were beaten on the last day of the season by AC Milan for the 3rd place that would have given them CL football or at least the right to play the qualifying round. He played 32 games for Fiorentina in last season.

 

Before that he played for Brescia and Bologna most of the time and had a short spell at Palermo when being loaned out by Inter.  Being first choice in those clubs. He was bought by Inter at some point but when he was there they first loaned him out and then he had a severe knee injury that ruled him out for a year in 2011.

 

In 2010 he has made his debut for the Italian national team but he is a second choice there as nobody ever will be able to take the place of the already legendary  Buffon as long as he is playing football I think. In his youth career he has represented Italy on most levels and he was also the goal keeper when Italy was playing in the summer Olympics of 2008.

 

He is 1m95 (or 6ft 5 in) and is 27 years old now. And as far as I know I have never seen him play. So he is unknown territory for me and I guess for most of us at Untold.

 

Looking at the number of games and the fact that in most clubs he was first choice he surely looks to be a highly experienced keeper in one of the better leagues in Europe. We can imagine that he will have to face big competitions from our two other goal keepers Szczesny and Fabianski.

 

Many people had asked for buying Julio Cesar this summer. But I don’t know if he was that keen to really come to Arsenal and maybe face time on the bench in a year before the world cup. It is obviously that Wenger rates Szczesny very highly (so do I to be honest) and as Szczesny is still young and will have to learn he can become a real top class keeper when he wants it and can stay focused.

 

With now more than one keeper standing behind him he sure has to play at a high level. Like he did in the last games if you ask me. So it will sure keep our keepers busy and focused.

 

The nice thing is that getting Viviano doesn’t cost too much for Arsenal in terms of transfer fee as we only pay a nominal fee to loan him. Is he a good keeper we will find out in the coming year, if he isn’t completely what expected we just send him back to Italy and can look further or promote one of the younger keepers like Martinez or Illiev to the first team. Both seem a bit young now for the moment to join the first team.

 

If Szczesny keeps his current form I don’t know if we will see Viviano play a lot to be honest. But I think with his experience he should be able to slot in rather easily when we need him. And of course as he is unknown quality for me he could surprise us and become more than just a loan player.

 

One thing that I noticed about this player when doing some research is that for most of his career he was double owned. I mean that he had two clubs owning him at the same time. I must say that this is a very strange way of doing things. But it seems legitimate in Italy to have two clubs owning part of the same player. I still find it strange to be honest. But then again who am I.

 

Welcome Emilio or like you know it better: Benvenuti Viviano (I did have to look that up as I don’t really speak Italian)

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14 Replies to “Benvenuti Viviano, a new Italian goalkeeper at Arsenal”

  1. Hi

    Good article.

    In Italian you say ….. “BENVENUTO VIVIANO”

    Benvenuti is in the plural.

    I enjoyed reading your article. I can vouch for Viviano. He is a top stopper and will definetly add experience and improve us. Keep up the good work.

  2. Okay now I could pretend to be a smart boy and change the headline but I leave it like it is and give a warning: never trust google translater 😉

    I hope we can get some more people on here who follow Italian football a bit so we can have an opinion on him.

    Joseph what do you think are his qualities or weak points? You seem to at least have seen him play?

  3. Maybe Adam could shed a light on that ownership issue. Can you imagine having one of our players partially owned by another club? This looks insane to me….

  4. I would like to see Viviano turn out for Arsenal sooner rather than later…..mainly to see exactly what we have got on loan this season. He’s the right age and height and maybe he can teach Szczesny a thing or two about improving his distribution, which, on Sunday, was very poor at times.

  5. well hopefully Nicky we may get to see him in the WBA league cup match, and I’d like to see Sanago start there too

  6. I told you before but no ones listen. This is going to be the year of the gunner. Our youths have grown up. Here we come. Watch out!

  7. Great buy in the end by arsenal.
    Ozil is a genuine world class.
    Flamini is a very good player. We can’t undermine him because he comes free.
    Viviano is an important addition.
    Sanogo, well let us overlook.
    To summarize,
    Goalkeeping and defense were not major problem areas last season – scoring goals was a problem. This season with the addition and internal adjustments the team is strong enough to compete.
    Midfield is simply awesome.
    Strikers wise not 100% sure. I started to feel the burden on Giroud. Let us leave it to arsene to sort it out.
    I was excited about suarez. But what can you do about it. Anfield is a hostage camp which is run by gangsters. I don’t know what kind of weapon they carry.

  8. with the bad news coming in on podolski, bendtner park sanogo afobe akpom have been thrown a lifeline, which one will step up to the plate and throw down a challenge to giroud?

    that’s what wenger needs to be saying to the other 5 strikers at the club.

  9. I think I saw Viviano play for Italy sometime last year..aybe in the Euros. He looked a good keeper that day, and the commentators were sort of bigging him up as Buffon’s heir. His club career suggests otherwise though. But then, some clubs just take crazy decisions. Such as Real Madrid. Buy Bale for 100m, sell a better player for half that.

    A good signing I think. Allows us to assess him before signing him permanently, as you said. A good backup/competition for Szczesny. Too bad for Fabianski. I think he is a good keeper too. But he lets himself down sometimes, and I don;t think he can be ahead of Szcz for that reason.

  10. @Nakew

    Why Sanogo we will overlook? Do you mean you don’t rate him?

    If so, I think we should wait a while. He is only young and has just arrived. He is obviously keen to contribute from the way he has played when we have seen him.

    Anyway, welcome to our new back up goalie.

  11. “Strikers wise not 100% sure. I started to feel the burden on Giroud. Let us leave it to arsene to sort it out.”
    Nakew,
    Nice assessment and I agree on the hopefulness of what we’ve accomplished. The serious gap to mind, however, is that with but one Giroud and no quality backup, unless Theo is ready and able, the peril is evident to all who can see. And fearfully, so can those who don’t play by the rules. Something really off in the striker follies that begs for information as to what went wrong. That said, our midfield can truly be a mix of beauty and power that strikes genuine awe.

  12. As I recall from that always-reputable source, Football Manager, dual-ownership in Italy is somewhat like a long-term loan arrangement. A player’s rights are split 50/50 between two teams, and both agree on which team he will play for; after a season or two, the two teams bid for the other 50%, and the high bid pays the balance to the loser while getting the full rights. In practice, I believe it’s common when a big club wants to acquire a player from a smaller club but feels he needs more seasoning — the small team gets to hold onto their player for an extra season or two, and gets some cash up front to compensate for the risk his talent does not develop, while the big team reduces the cost of buying the player in the future, when he has made more of a name for himself.

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