Milan have begun their pre-season today and, for the first time in years, Gianluigi Donnarumma won’t arrive at Milanello to start the season with the Rossoneri. The 22-year-old is preparing for the UEFA Euro 2020 Final with Italy and, after the continental competition, he will fly to Paris to begin his spell at PSG.
At the final whistle of the EURO 2020 semi-final against Spain, Gigio’s tears of joy were felt by the nation. At that moment, he was the man who had quite literally saved Italy as he turned away Alvaro Morata’s penalty kick. The whole of Italy embraced him as a son, as they felt that redemption for not qualifying for the World Cup in Russia, was now only one game away.
Tournaments are short-lived creations and that is why the young goalkeeper had reason to be emotional. A minority of fans had booed him in the game against Wales due to his decision to leave Milan and join PSG. This, however, was his moment and he deserved it. If I were to say that a goalkeeper had played 215 times for Milan, 32 times for the national team and been named Serie A goalkeeper of the year along with adding a Super Coppa Italiana, one might think that it is a player getting to the end of his career.
Video: Milan players arrive at Milanello as pre-season begins
Incredibly, the 215 appearances and 32 national team caps belong to Donnarumma and he is 22 years of age, I repeat he is 22 years of age. His ability and his maturity stand him in line to be one of the world’s greatest ever goalkeepers and yet in his home country, many have branded him a mercenary.
This is not a ballad to ‘Gigio’, he has his faults on the pitch, although they are few. My own experience in Milan the first time I saw him play was that his distribution was lacking. Far from it these days, even though last night it took him a while to realise that Spain’s wolf pack pressing meant that he had no options and he played some poor balls but he soon figured this out and adapted.
As a goalkeeper, he has everything, he is 6ft 5” and yet he can get down quickly, as he proved against Spain. His handling is superb, not to mention his reflexes. Reading of the game is at the elite level. There have been cries for Jorginho to win the Ballon D’Or, but this goalkeeper should be considered too.
A year before the World Cup in Brazil, the young boy from Castellammare di Stabia, just south of Naples, joined Milan’s youth system. He has since gone on to have a love-hate relationship with the club and whilst they loved what he did on the pitch, his agent, the notorious Mino Raiola, had been trying to find a move that would benefit ‘Gigio’ and, of course, himself.
The transfer to PSG has caused an outcry in Milan as the goalkeeper was advised to run his contract down and leave for free. This saw him targeted by the Milan Ultras, who referred to him and his brother as parasites. The incident before the game against Hellas Verona in May left him distraught and possibly prompted his decision to leave.
Players move in the modern game and for €250,000, the fee Milan got him for, he has paid them back. First of all: why shouldn’t he move to better himself and his family? Secondly, we should never forget that players don’t only base their choices on money. PSG have doubled his wages, true, but the 22-year-old will join a team full of champions, such as Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Sergio Ramos, just to name a few, and one of the genuine contenders to win the Champions League. Milan are the club of his heart, but like it, or not, Donnarumma belongs to an even higher level now. His performance against Spain was just one more that confirms that it would take a miracle to move him from his rightful spot as Gigi Buffon’s successor.
His words after the game touched many as this youthful custodian could not quite believe what had happened. His humility came out in the following statement: “We look at everything with the goalkeeper coaches, and then there is a bit of instinct too, I looked at everything during the game and the moment before the penalty. Sirigu spoke to me before the shootout, but I can’t say what he told me, he is a top guy and a great person,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
As Italy celebrated and ‘Gigio’ cried, the nation came together. They have a goalkeeper who is lauded as both saint and sinner and yet he is neither.
He is an elite goalkeeper, a man above his years, a player that does not come along often and a man that should be taken to the nation’s heart and cared for. There are few players Roberto Mancini things are 100 per cent on the team sheet, but Donnarumma is one of them and if he plays as long as the great Dino Zoff and Gigi Buffon, we will be talking about him in the same exalted manner.
@RichHall80