Gianluigi Donnarumma reflected upon his tough debut season with Paris Saint-Germain, his high profile error against Real Madrid and Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.

The 23-year-old Italian shot stopper has had a tough time of things following his controversial free transfer to the French giants last summer. He left Milan after a seven-year association and it’s fair to say that the Rossoneri faithful have not missed him this season due to the immediate impact of Mike Maignan.

Speaking to AFP, Donnarumma first discussed his future and desire to stay with PSG.

“I want to stay at PSG. I am happy with my first trophy in the Paris Saint-Germain shirt. I am very proud to belong to this club, which is very ambitious and always aiming higher. When I arrived, I didn’t feel the pressure from the European Championships, although it wasn’t easy to settle in.”

He touched on the difficulty of sharing the starting spot with former Real Madrid man Keylor Navas.

“It has not been an easy season, I know I can do more, I played half of the matches and I could not give my best, but I am convinced I can give much more to this team and this club.”

The Italian goalkeeper then commented on if he’ll share the starting spot again next season.

“No, I don’t think it will be like that. The club will make choices. I have a great relationship with Keylor, we are two good guys, we understand the situation, but it was difficult for him too.

“Let’s say we made it, with the help of the whole group and with the understanding between us.”

Donnarumma looked back at his high profile Champions League error against Real Madrid.

“I don’t feel guilty, not at all. We know what happened, the goal wasn’t a regular goal, but we could have handled the rest of the game better. But now we have to look ahead, the past is in the past, there’s nothing we can do to go back and play Champions League football again.

“Next year we will show everyone who we are. We have the means to win in Europe, but it must not become an obsession. Obsession would take us nowhere, we just have to keep calm, do what we know how to do, play football, work and the results will come.”

Finally, Donnarumma discussed Italy’s failure to qualify for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

“It was hard, very hard to digest. They were difficult days, but as I said, there’s no going back.

“What we did at the European Championships will remain in history, we achieved an incredible result. But Italy must go to the World Cup, always, and unfortunately we didn’t manage to do that.”

11 thought on “Donnarumma reflects on difficult debut season with PSG”
  1. If Gigio considers this season a success for him he needs to reevaluate his life ambitions. Anything short of a French league title was an absolute loss. Consider that he’s sharing the number 1 spot with a bang average goalkeeper and that should propose a problem in his mind but he continues to be happy in mediocrity.

  2. A goalkeeper needs to feel number 1. This whole chopping and changing of their number 1 didn’t benefit either keepers, or the team ultimately. At the beginning of the season, the new manager needs to decide who is his number one and stick to it.

  3. Poor advise from Mino. He was only focused on his commission. Gigi could have owned Milan. And left them on a free transfer after all they did for him. Hope his greed suits him well.

  4. Donna what did you think about Carlito’s Way? Bragging in here that he trained players to taunt you to fumble the ball?

    Also for a poster to throw a jab at his agent that takes the biscuit. If you have ever had the privilege to do business with ppl in high places you would know that they wear 20K shoes, it’s just part of their entourage. Making high commissions is correct and nothing wrong with that.

  5. Donnarumma will go down in history as one of the biggest flops. He cant distribute the ball in a way PSG or any top club plays ball. Hes utterly awful with his feet and nowadays keepers need to be good with their feet.
    Anybody think im wrong? Name one top keeper right now thats not good with his feet… yeah didnt think so Donnarumma is maybe in the top 10 goalkeepers on his best day… maybe…

  6. This kid is going to be one of the greatest goalkeepers in history. He is only 23. I love milan, but move on milan fans. He had a contract. He fulfilled it and now he moved on. This is how an agreement works.

  7. I agree with CANADAKID32. I am a Milan fan. Thank God he made way for Mike as Milan results show. Good Luck Gigio. Parting ways was good for everyone.

    My other thought is the error that costed PSG elimination. It is good to have players in the team not regretting their responsibility. This is called professionalism or the lack of it.

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