Massimo Cellino was often rumoured to have influence on team selection and which players would play during his time as Leeds United president – and one player’s comments from 2023 prove as much.
After initially failing The EFL’s owners test, Cellino finally bought a majority stake in Leeds United towards the end of the 2013-14 season and lasted right up until the summer of 2017, before selling his stake.
His three-year spell at Elland Road was filled with controversy. Whether it be court cases, hiring and firing managers on a whim or his cutting of costs – Stephen Warnock said players had to buy their own socks.
Cellino bought 14 players in his first summer with a big portion of them from Italy. He hired a non-league manager in Dave Hockaday, with the feeling that he hired a small-time manager to have control over him.
Marco Silvestri: Massimo Cellino stopped me playing for Leeds
Signed from Cagliari in 2014, Silvestri played 88 of Leeds’ 92 Championship games over the next two seasons. He was capable of the odd calamity but on the whole, Silvestri was a rare successful signing.
But his third season did not go to plan. England international Rob Green was brought to Elland Road during Garry Monk’s season in 2016-17 and Silvestri was relegated to the role as back-up goalkeeper.
Speaking to Football Italia in 2023, Empoli’s January recruit said that it was Cellino that stopped him playing for Leeds. He said Cellino “adored” him initially, only to “get the wrong idea” and drop him.
“In the first six months at Cagliari, Cellino was crazy for me. In fact, he brought me to Leeds. He adored me and I was the regular starter in the first two seasons in England. Then things changed,” Silvestri said.
“A decision which made no sense. He got the wrong idea about me. Froze me out of the team and signed another goalkeeper, Rob Green. Then he reintroduced me to the team, but I was second-choice ‘keeper.”
How has Marco Silvestri fared since Leeds United exit in 2017?
He moved to Hellas Verona in the summer of 2017, and clocked up 115 appearances over the next four years. During that time, Silvestri even earned a call-up to Italy’s national team but failed to win a cap.
Silvestri then moved to Udinese in 2021 for a fee of around £2m, playing a further 94 times in three years before a move to Andrea Radrizzani-owned Sampdoria last summer. In January, he joined Empoli.
Now 34, Silvestri is in the last few years of his career but if he follows Mirco Antenucci’s route, he could keep going until he is 40. For now, he’s focused on helping 18th-placed Empoli survive Serie A relegation.
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