For Daniel Farke’s Leeds United, all that really matters between now and the end of May is that Premier League football is on it’s way back to Elland Road in 2025/26.
Fortunately, the Championship table-toppers appear very well placed to achieve their objectives.
A Dan James-inspired Leeds thrashed Cardiff City 7-0 on Saturday, their biggest home win in 53 years and an almighty statement of intent from a side looking to put that extra bit of daylight between themselves, Burnley and Sheffield United.
But for one former Leeds United player, a January transfer saw him fast-tracked to the top-flight. Swapping a team in danger of relegation to the third-tier for one battling for survival in the first division.
This was an opportunity Marco Silvestri, understandably, seized with both of his shot-stopping hands.
Former Leeds United goalkeeper Marco Silvestri back in Serie A
Previously the number one at Elland Road, a now-33-year-old Silvestri had lost his place at fallen giants and Serie B strugglers Sampdoria.
Now, Empoli might not be offering regular minutes as the first-choice goalkeeper – he was on the bench during Sunday’s 4-1 defeat at Juventus – but they can offer a route back into Serie A for a goalkeeper glancing nervously over his shoulder at the depths of Serie C.
“At the moment the hierarchies are the same,” Empoli coach Roberto D’Aversa confirmed ahead of the trip to the Allianz Stadium. “The first-choice goalkeeper is [Denis] Vasquez. There are no doubts about this.
D’Aversa does feel that Silvestri will bring an experienced voice in the dressing room, however, while acting as a mentor to the AC Milan loanee currently standing between the sticks at Empoli.
“For Silvestri, it’s an opportunity because he was out of the squad at Sampdoria,” the coach explains. “He has experience. It’s up to him to be able to return to what he was a few seasons ago. His presence can also help Vasquez grow.”
Silvestri, who will wear the number one shirt at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, played just two shy of 100 games for Leeds until losing his place to Rob Green and eventually saying his goodbyes in 2017.
He was a fixture in Italy’s top flight for six years after departing West Yorkshire, first at Hellas Verona and then at Udinese. With Vasquez only at Empoli on a temporary basis, one suspects Silvestri will be eyeing up the starting role as the veteran shot-stopper aims for one final Serie A swansong.
Silvestri was part of Massimo Cellino’s Italian revolution at Elland Road
Silvestri, interestingly, was one of five Italian players snapped up by Leeds during the madcap Massimo Cellino era. Tomasso Bianchi, Giuseppe Bellusci, Dario Del Fabro and Mirko Antenucci also called Elland Road home a decade ago.
And Silvestri only needs look towards one of his former teammates for inspiration as he enters the autumn days of his career. Ex-Leeds striker Antenucci is still going strong, aged 40, with ten goals in 25 games this season for SPAL.
“In my first year here, with [Massimo] Cellino, we were many Italians and it was quite easy to integrate,” Silvestri told Cronache Di Spogliatoio back in 2023. “It was difficult football wise initially and I remember I struggled a lot. I wasn’t playing well.
“The Championship is tough physically and technically. Tactics are taken into account less. Then, the league is very long. Endless. You arrive in February thinking you are at the end, but in reality there are still 20 games to go!”
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