Italy and PSG star Gigio Donnarumma admits leaving Milan for PSG in the summer was the right choice although he still often speaks to Stefano Pioli and some of his former teammates.

The 22-year-old joined the Ligue 1 giants on a free transfer from Milan in July. The Rossoneri fans have blamed him and his agent Mino Raiola, but Donnarumma claims Milan also have part of the responsibility for his exit.

“I can only thank the club for what they did for me. I improved as a man and as a footballer in Milan,” Donnarumma told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Everyone is blaming me, without thinking what happened on the other side. The last call from Milan was to tell me that they had signed another goalkeeper. That is how it ended.

“I think PSG was in my destiny,” Donnarumma continued.

“They had been following me for many years and have always made sure I knew their interest. Everyone at the club makes me feel important, from President Al-Khelaifi to director Leonardo. I am happy and proud to be here.”

Donnarumma is not a regular goalkeeper in Paris as PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino often rotates him and Keylor Navas. A few months ago, the Italy international claimed that the competition with the former Real Madrid star was ‘disturbing’, but he seems to have changed his mind now.

“I knew that this was the situation when I signed with PSG,” he admitted.

“I don’t know know what he [Keylor] thinks, but I am ok with it because everyone here always makes me feel important. It’s not true that we are not on good terms, there is an excellent rapport between us, he is a good guy and there are no problems.”

The 22-year-old may have left Milan, but is still on good terms with some of his former teammates and coach Pioli.

“As a fan, I always follow every game with passion. I often talk to my ex teammates, but also Pioli and I am happy with how things are going for them,” he admitted.

“I hope they’ll go all the way through. I am happy for Milan and their fans that they won the derby.”

What does he make of Mike Maignan, who replaced him at the Stadio Meazza?

“I follow him closely, he has made an excellent impression so far. I congratulate him for what he is doing. I am happy for him and for the great season of Milan.”

25 thought on “Donnarumma admits he often talks to Pioli, reveals Milan’s farewell call”
  1. “They had been following me for many years and have always made sure I knew their interest. Everyone at the club makes me feel important, from President Al-Khelaifi to director Leonardo. I am happy and proud to be here.”

    Dude, if you’re that important to them, you’d be first choice. Does this mean you feel that you’re not important at Milan? We literally treated you like our own kid brother.

  2. “The last call from Milan was to tell me that they had signed another goalkeeper.” some level of audacity to criticise the club for a lack of communication. He gave himself to an oil rich, billionaire club for practically peanuts and couldn’t even leave a little bit of a parting gift for the club that raised and nurtured him for half a decade and put him on the world stage. Don’t make me laugh.

  3. Don’t care what he has to say. Same old story, if he loves and supported the club as much as he always claims, he would have signed on. Every month or so there is anew story with him professing his love for Milan. Good away and enjoy the bench.

  4. Donna is following Milan games not because he loves Milan but because he likes to see if Maignan was poor so he could be happy he left them for dead lol.

  5. I wish you guys would just give it a rest! Donnarumma is free to work for whomever he wants. just as you are free to do the same! He owes nothing to his previous employer! Italian clubs have a bad history of disloyalty which is probably the reason why Donnarumma left Milan.
    The real problem is that fans think a player is their property once they are playing for ‘their’ clubs! Well they are not!
    Leave him alone!

  6. @Gel, it’s Gigio who is granting interview here and not Milan fan, and if you have moral value then you would do the right thing, Milan brought him into limelight, they made him what he is today and the little he could do is get them some sign in fee even if he wanna leave, but if Milan get a sign in fee on him would he receive as much salary as he’s getting today NO would his agent get that much commission NO, that is case, he left on free so he could get all the salary. Even if you don’t wanna stay at least let the club who brought you up from 14 years old get a fee from you not leaving on free, and now he wanna blame Milan for not paying him 12M and you wanna blame the fans for criticising him? Go home bro and go and comment on your teams page.

  7. Your correspondents are right – let us simply forget all about DOLLARUMMA but before I would like to ask a couple of simple questions:

    * when did this telephone call take place?
    * and what was milan’s salary offer plus add-ons at the time of this call?

    Let us simply say well done to whoever brought MIGHT MAIGNAN to milan.

  8. Donnarumma is just doing what he wants. Fine. But don’t proceed to lumber us with the patchwork narrative where he’s the good guy in this situation. Milan fans were annoyed, still are, but we’ve let go and are focused on the future. Yet every few weeks a story of this nature pops up and scratches at healed wounds.

  9. @Ralph – People just can’t have a debate without getting personal! I will reiterate, Donnarumma owes Milan nothing! If it had not been Milan who took him on then it would have been another team. If Milan wanted money then they should have sold him before his contract ran out! So, do not blame Donnarumma!

  10. “I think PSG was in my destiny”

    HAH! What bad faith; as if he never had a hand in his arriving at PSG.

  11. @Gel

    I can easily pardon your statements as they smell total ignorance of the whole reality of what happened.

    Donna was trusted and nurtured as a starter by the club from age 16. He was developed to full bown maturity by giving him the opportunity to train with some of the best in the game… REINA and DIDA and a fantastic goal keeper coaching team.

    Donna’s salary was raised from €1m as an “18 year old” kid to €6.5m per season when he held to club to ransom because of an offer from PSG.

    He was even made the club’s captain at 20 and given an improved offer of €8m to renew his contract. He refused the offer for months and at 1 point, Mino asked the management to stop talking to Donna behind him when they tried to convince him to stay.

    Please…. Tell me where the club went wrong.

  12. @James – I don’t respond to personal insults. If you want to trade insults then take a look at your grammar, as it smells of total ignorance!

  13. @ Gel Football is a sport not a business.

    What business stops people from using their hands???

    Because football is a sport not a business, it’s not as simple as “this person is free to work for another employer”.

    The whole point of club football, again as a sport, is that the fans have a connection to the players. It’s the players that we watch each week not the “club” or the “brand”.

    When those players have no loyalty to the club or are changing every 5 mins, it makes the whole thing completely pointless. The outfield players may as well just pick up the ball with their hands.

    This is the reason football is struggling to attract young fans. Agnelli said that young fans increasingly follow players not clubs which isn’t really surprising given the player turnover.

    Would you want to work for an actual business with the sort of staff turnover we have at football clubs?

  14. Nico, couldn’t be said any better. Forza ( can we call him Magic Mike ) lol.

    I think it was also noted that Maldini did try to approach Gigio several times and was told ” speak to my agent ” !!!!!

  15. @Acemilan…thanks! Actually his nickname was Magic Eagle at Lille and is still used. AKA Magic Mike true but he also has the eagle embossed on his gloves.

    Just checked online search: “The Magic Eagle – as he likes to be called….”

    Either way we know who we’re talking about! 🙂

  16. Take no notice of @gel or anyone else trying to have a go at Milan fans, if donnarumma was at their club and did what he did they would be rioting in the streets. Gotta love how he still keeps taking about Milan even now, he’s gonna be 85 and still talking about us, move on, we have and with an upgrade

  17. If he could just shut up and go spend some of his money, that’d be great.

    Weird that he likes to talk to Pioli and his teammates – do they not have to talk through Raiola?

    Pathetic.

  18. “The last call from Milan was to tell me that they had signed another goalkeeper. That is how it ended.” -Wow, After months of making him offers that would have made him the highest paid player in the squad. Such audacity. Also, is he saying that if they’d waited until after the Euros or something that he would have signed? BS. He would have gone to PSG anyway and we would have lost Maignan to another club and we would have taken a double whammy.

    @Maldini’s Heir. Saying football is not a business (now) is really naïve. I won’t bother to elaborate.

    @Nico. Let’s not call him “Magic Eagle”. Sounds kinda dumb. But nice breakdown of the cost comparison!

    @James, don’t forget we signed his fake-goalkeeper brother to 1m salary as well! Crazy!

  19. @Maldini’s Heir. I would also contend that kids today follow players over clubs is precisely because of the commercialization (making into a business) of football. Before, fanbases did not extend much beyond the borders of a country. Now with TV and internet anyone has access. Plus with social media individual players are constantly boosting themselves and their “brand”. Being a “star” is not so much about winning leagues and cups, but about “likes” and “views”. The goal is to get endorsements and make even more money, since it’s all a business. People relate to people, not organizations in a far away place. A kid in Indonesia is not going to feel an affinity for a faraway club or place, but will for a human celebrity.

  20. Dollarumma should enjoy sitting and fastening the bolts of the PSG bench in the farmer’s league, plus his paycheck and stop talking about Milan. He changes his story every few months.

    What did he expect Milan to tell him in their last call anyway? That they will never sign another goalkeeper after him? LMAO

  21. @Gel, and likewise
    Milan, the club, owes Donna nothing. First, Raiolo blames Milan for not defending Donna’s departure. And now Donna himself is insinuating that Milan has chosen not to retain him. Milan, the club, has remained silent all this while and wished the best for Donna and his new adventure at PSG. The club has never badmouthed Donna or his agent. But why are Donna and his agent so eager to justify their choice (PSG) by putting the blame on Milan? Just becos you demand a certain sum of money and the club is wrong to reject your request? Milan, the club, has conducted themselves well throughout this episode. On the other hand, it is the hypocrisy of both Donna and his agent that just keep stoking the wrath of the Milan fans. As Milan fans, let’s not cry over spilled milk. Period.

  22. @Gel, and likewise
    Milan, the club, owes Donna nothing. First, Raiolo blames Milan for not defending Donna’s departure. And now Donna himself is insinuating that Milan has chosen not to retain him. Milan, the club, has remained silent all this while and wished the best for Donna and his new adventure at PSG. The club has never badmouthed Donna or his agent. But why are Donna and his agent so eager to justify their choice (PSG) by putting the blame on Milan? Just becos you demand a certain sum of money and the club is wrong to reject your request? Milan, the club, has conducted themselves well throughout this episode. On the other hand, it is the hypocrisy of both Donna and his agent that just keep stoking the wrath of the Milan fans. As Milan fans, let’s not cry over spilled milk. Period.

  23. @Gel, and likewise
    Milan, the club, owes Donna nothing. First, Raiolo blames Milan for not defending Donna’s departure. And now Donna himself is insinuating that Milan has chosen not to retain him. Milan, the club, has remained silent all this while and wished the best for Donna and his new adventure at PSG. The club has never badmouthed Donna or his agent. But why are Donna and his agent so eager to justify their choice (PSG) by putting the blame on Milan? Just becos you demand a certain sum of money and the club is wrong to reject your request? Milan, the club, has conducted themselves well throughout this episode. On the other hand, it is the hypocrisy of both Donna and his agent that just keep stoking the wrath of the Milan fans. As Milan fans, let’s not cry over spilled milk. Period.

  24. @ Vero Rossonero Football is not a business. It’s a sport. A football clubs are not run like businesses. If they were they wouldn’t all be insolvent. One of the main drivers for the Super League was the top teams in Europe are nearly all broke. Without their oligarchs, sheiks and vulture funds the clubs would all be finished. That’s not a business.

    @ Vero Rossonero Exactly. In some respects if football clubs were run like actual businesses we might more stability. But football clubs are now play things for oligarchs, sheiks and vulture funds.

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