It will have been a long series during the 2020-2021 season. Between Gianluigi Donnarumma and AC Milan, the story ended in a mess, generating a large amount of controversy and the stubborn resentment of some of the Rossoneri fans. Donnarumma is a precocious young goalkeeper who became a starter at just 16 years old and has become the pride of San Siro. A fan of AC Milan, he had rejected the other Italian big names to sign there.
“The fact is that everyone, Juve and especially Inter, wanted him, but he, a Milan fan, he only wanted to go there. The right call came from Bianchessi who convinced Galliani at all costs to invite the Donnarumma family the day before his departure to Inter,” says Enzo Raiola, the brother of Mino, the historic agent of the Italian goalkeeper. “We joined Milan with Berlusconi and Galliani, with whom he had signed his first contract. Then came Yonghong-Li whom Mino never liked. He had a lot of doubts about Chinese Milan and it seems to me that time has proven him right. However, we still extended the contract despite the fact that the 4-5 biggest clubs in the world wanted Donnarumma. Because Gianluigi didn’t want to leave the team that raised him.”he continues.
AC Milan’s change of direction
Why these confidences? Because the double confrontation between AC Milan and PSG is looming. And the rest of the story is told to, perhaps, calm the fans’ ardor, when Donnarumma returns to San Siro on November 7. So, Enzo Raiolo tries to explain how this young goalkeeper, keen on AC Milan, was able to leave the free club, without bringing in a single euro.
“After the arrival of the Elliott fund, the idea was to put the club’s coffers in order, but despite everything, we had numerous meetings to talk about extensions. And the only thing that Mino has always said clearly is this: “we will never take the boy from you without compensation, but he would like Milan to qualify for the Champions League”. Relations were calm. At least until what happened in Genoa. We saw Maldini and Massara, Milan had not yet qualified for the Champions League and the alternative was to move forward with another club, namely Juve, who would have resolved the situation with an exchange or transfer.”
The arrival of Mike Maignan changed everything
But that’s where the situation got worse, according to Enzo Raiola’s version. While he thought he was laying the foundations for an extension, the Italian goalkeeper’s agent became disillusioned and learned that Milan had decided to recruit Mike Maignan. “Maldini said: ‘Mino, we are here for something else: the Gianluigi chapter is already closed, because we have already signed our goalkeeper.’ The sky fell on Donnarumma’s head. We, apart from Juve, who would not have signed him until the end of the championship if Milan had not gone to the Champions League, had not made a move for Gianluigi who in January, always so as not to betray Milan , didn’t even want to listen to an offer. After what happened, he told us: “no, I don’t want to play in Italy anymore”.
From then on, there was turmoil for the Donnarumma clan, worried to see the best European teams have a starting goalkeeper. But PSG has been there… “All the big teams were already equipped, even PSG which had recently renewed Keylor Navas. But Mino still wanted to play his card with Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who, once he realized that Gianluigi was free, picked up the phone in front of us, called Leonardo to say: “take Donnarumma”, reveals Enzo Raiola. The start of a new era for Donnarumma… and Keylor Navas.
