Gianluigi Donnarumma, who’s somehow still a week shy of his 21st birthday, made a global spectacle of his last contract renewal three years ago, and seeing as how he’s still tied to agent Mino Raiola, chances are he’s about to do the same again. It’s already starting in fact.
DONNARAIOLA x HATERS 1-0
— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) June 25, 2017
What's next?
Gigio’s contract expires in less than 18 months, which makes the upcoming few months most crucial with regards to his future. But — surprise, surprise! — he’s “struggling” to reach an agreement with AC Milan over an extension. Time for some transfer rumors then!
As one of the few teams who could easily afford his €50m price tag, Chelsea are an obvious link, made even more obvious of course by the Kepa benching. (Congrats to Willy Caballero for dipping below Kepa’s save percentage after Monday night, by the way. It’s almost as if goalkeeper isn’t the biggest problem! But we digress...)
Over the weekend, Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sempre Milan) did just that, linking Donnarumma with Chelsea, PSG, and Real Madrid (Real Madrid?!). There’s nothing more concrete to the story beyond that, at least not at this point, though it does mention that Juventus are now out after securing a new contract for Wojciech Szczęsny.
But if Chelsea are to try to get rid of Kepa this summer (assuming that’s even possible), Gigio could be one of the more likely and certainly one of the more promising replacements.
Donnarumma clearly isn’t lacking for experience. He has been Milan’s starting goalkeeper since October 2015, when he was just 16. To put that into further perspective, José Mourinho Mk.II was still Chelsea manager. Along the way, he’s collected 16 caps for Italy as well, giving him well over 200 senior professional appearances already. While his career has had its share of ups and downs, on and off the pitch, he’s now the “best and most complete” goalkeeper in Serie A not named Szczęsny.
From one Gianluigi to another: welcome in the Donnarumma's era @Vivo_Azzurro https://t.co/762R2xeZzZ
— Flavio Fusi (@FlaFu_tbol) November 11, 2019
A cursory overview of his statistics compared to Kepa also paints a positive picture, especially if we consider Milan’s woes in general. Gigio’s save percentage is 8th best in the league at 69.4% (Kepa’s on 53.6%), while his PSxG differential per 90 is 0.06, which is the 12th best (Kepa’s second worst in the Premier League at -0.18). Not great, but certainly not terrible.
The biggest problem could have nothing to do with his play however. Would Chelsea deem it worthwhile to have to deal with the infamous Raiola? Guess we might find out soon enough.