Vito Mannone explains why he moved to Arsenal as a youngster

As a young player, Vito Mannone made the move to Arsenal from the Atalanta U19 side after catching the Gunners’ attention through their scouting efforts at his previous club.

During his time with Arsenal from 2005 to 2013, Mannone had a brief stint, making a few appearances for the Gunners before departing.

Currently a part of Lille’s squad, Mannone has yet to feature for any top-tier Italian club in Serie A.

When Mannone joined Arsenal, he opted to bypass opportunities with the prominent Italian top-flight clubs, choosing instead to relocate to London.

Having spent a considerable amount of time away from Italy, he now plies his trade in France with Lille. The decision not to spend time in Italy prompts the question: why did Mannone choose a different footballing path?

He tells Gianluca di Marzio:

“Maybe because nobody believed in me.

“I was very young when I left no one believed in me at that moment. Instead, Arsenal did… and between staying among the youth and going to the first team at Arsenal I decided to accept the court of the Gunners.

“You meet someone who believes in you…you have to try to keep going until your time comes and silences them in a certain way. After that I did many good things in my career. The call from Italy never came and yes, a I’m kind of sorry.”

Just Arsenal Opinion

Mannone was one of the players Arsene Wenger considered a top talent and brought him to the club.

We had a lot of hopes for him when he first joined the academy, but he never lived up to expectations.

The Italian is now a more experienced player and may wish he had done much better than when he played for us.