A former Sunderland goalkeeper has accepted a player-coach role with League Two club Crawley Town.
Former Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone has returned to English football for the first time in six years after being appointed as player-coach of League Two club Crawley Town.
The former Italy Under-21 international joined the Black Cats from Arsenal during the summer of 2013 and went on to make over 80 appearances during a four-year stay at the Stadium of Light before departing to join Reading. Spells in the United States, Denmark and France followed and Mannone revealed he was bringing down the curtain on his playing career following a spell with Lille last summer.
However, he will now resume his on-field career and will combine that with coaching duties after accepting a role with Crawley that the League Two club describe as ‘heading up the goalkeeping department and taking control of all sessions and player development’. The Red Devils also confirmed the former Black Cats stopper will be registered as a member of their playing squad and will be eligible for selection for the new season.
Speaking after his appointment was confirmed, Mannone told the club website: “I am delighted and proud to take on this role and can’t wait to meet everyone at the club and to start working with the staff and players. I’ll give everything to the cause and hope to pass on my experiences as a player, leading into a successful season.”
Red Devils head coach Colin Kazim-Richards added: "To be able to add to my coaching staff, to the club, someone of Vito’s calibre is a credit in itself. His knowledge, his footballing experiences, playing at the highest level with some of the best coaches in terms of standards, what it actually takes and ideas coming from a country that creates amazing goalkeepers, has really taken us up another level.
"Vito comes with an intensity, and it's something I’m looking forward to in terms of creating a relationship and benefiting from his skills from a goalkeeper’s perspective, and also as a person. As soon as we spoke, I knew he was the right man, so I can’t wait to work with him.”
Continue Reading