Raiola: ‘Donnarumma did not want to leave Milan’

Agent Enzo Raiola challenged the narrative surrounding Gianluigi Donnarumma, suggesting that his client never wanted to leave Milan on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.

The Italian goalkeeper broke into the Rossoneri first team at the age of 16 and was a fan favourite at the club, even with some tensions regarding his salary and contracts in the Lombardy capital.

Donnarumma became a much-maligned figure when he left Milan on a free transfer in July 2021, joining up with Paris Saint-Germain on a lucrative five-year contract. He has been booed and jeered by fans when playing in San Siro whilst on international duty.

Speaking on pages 18 and 19 of today’s Tuttosport, Enzo Raiola remembered the circumstances surrounding Donnarumma’s Milan exit two years ago.

“Maldini said: ‘Mino, we are here for something else: the Gianluigi chapter is already closed because we have already got our goalkeeper’. Donnarumma had that boulder dropped on his head.

“We, as well as Juve, who would’ve only signed him at the end of the season had Milan not qualified for the Champions League, had not traded Gianluigi, who in January, again in order not to betray Milan, hadn’t even wanted to listen to offers as a possible free agent.

“And he himself, after what happened, told us: ‘No, I don’t want to play in Italy anymore. I would’ve only gone to Juve if Milan hadn’t qualified for the Champions League and would’ve gained from my transfer, so now I don’t want to play in Italy anymore’.

“We really had nothing in hand because everyone was settled, including PSG who had recently renewed with Keylor Navas.

“However, Mino still wanted to play the Nasser card and once he realised Gianluigi would be free, he picked up the phone in front of us and told Leonardo: ‘Get Donnarumma’. There the negotiations started, but we were almost at the end of the season. This is the true story of Gianluigi.”

He reflected on Donnarumma’s debut for Milan as a 16-year-old.

“I’ll reveal a backstory, already the year before, with Inzaghi, there had been the possibility of him making his debut in the last league match with Atalanta (30 May 2015, ed.).

“Then Mihajlovic came along and took him to heart because he sniffed out talent straight away. And here I’ll tell you another thing, one day Mino and I were at Milanello and Sinisa came up to us and said: ‘I’ve convinced myself, I have to play the ‘child’…’.

“Because in the training match, when Gigio played, the team played better. And it also happened when he reversed the goalkeepers.

“And I’ll tell you another thing: Galliani and Mihajlovic had to put a lot of pressure on president Berlusconi to convince him.

“Not because he didn’t believe in him, but because there was a great goalkeeper who was Diego Lopez and it was a bloodbath for the ownership to put him out, given how much the Spaniard was earning.

“In the end, the will of Sinisa and Galliani won out, Gigio made his debut and kept his starting place, so much so that Lopez was then sold.”

Raiola also spoke about the mocking nickname ‘Dollarumma’ and when fake money was launched at him during his contentious contract renewal with Milan.

“It was a bad episode, we were playing a European Championship game and the few fans who went there in Poland made that gesture. Gianluigi suffered it, although Di Biagio did everything he could to keep him in a bubble.

“But the thing I want to say is different, given the booing that Donnarumma also took at San Siro in Italy-Ukraine, I still do not want to understand it.

“We joined Milan with Berlusconi and Galliani, with whom he signed his first contract. Then came Yonghong-Li, who Mino never liked.

“He was always attentive to the corporate situation surrounding his clients in order to protect them: Pavel Nedved, for example, he brought him from Lazio to Juve when he realised that Cragnotti would have problems.

“Similarly, Mino had many doubts about the Chinese Milan and it seems to me that time has proved him right. However, we still renewed his contract despite the fact that the four or five biggest clubs in the world wanted Donnarumma very insistently, offering him, among other things, a lot more money.

“And do you know why? Because Gianluigi did not want to leave the team that had raised him. But he demanded that Milan have ambition. Unfortunately, the results were lacking, there were messes and we came to the end of the story.”