Gianluigi Donnarumma has insisted that he never had any doubts about staying at Milan and is happy to have his brother Antonio with him at Milan now.
The Donnarumma saga finally came to an end yesterday with the goalkeeper signing a four-year contract with the Rossoneri, becoming the highest paid player on the team at just 18 years of age, with a net salary of €6 million per season.
Today, CEO Marco Fassone, director of sport Massimiliano Mirabelli, Gigio and his brother Antonio (who signed a four-year deal with Milan as well), held a press conference at Casa Milan to speak about the ‘Donnarumma case’ which is now closed.
“It’s a special and important day. We don’t usually have a press conference for a contract renewal, but Donnarumma’s was the summer’s frenzy,” Fassone said. “Today, we celebrate a long and difficult negotiation, made of explanations and steps forwards. These 4 more years give us new satisfactions.
“At 18 years of age, it’s difficult to make such decisions. We believe that for his part, the choice of giving confidence in the new Milan is understandably hard, with doubts and temptations on the way, but we are proud that he has chosen us [Donna’s agent, Raiola, publicly expressed his doubts about the new management]. This is your family, your home. Everything will be forgotten after the 1st save.”
After the presser, Fassone told reporters: “We’ve all been 18 and it’s normal that we have moments of difficulty. I’m glad he trusted a new club, positively evaluating our value to bring Milan back. Between the sticks, he’s one of the strongest goalkeepers in the world. We are convinced that the nastiness will disappear after the first miracle save and that our fans will continue to love him.”
Mirabelli, who gave Donnarumma a friendly slap during the presser (12:25 in the video above) added: “Gigio always told us he wants to stay at Milan. The story was not easy and in some years maybe it will enter the history books. There are neither winners nor losers, we’ve done what we had to do.”
Donnarumma had initially refused Milan’s offer of €5m plus a future captain armband and the fans turned on him quickly as it was reported by the player wants to move to Real Madrid; he was nicknamed ‘Dollarumma’ and Milan Club Poland threw fake dollars at him during an Italy Under 21 match and he, his agent and his family suffered plenty of insults from the tifosi on social media.
Eventually, after a short vacation in Ibiza with his girlfriend Alessia and his agent’s cousin, Enzo Raiola, Donnarumma signed the extension, and he claims that he never intended to cause any of this.
“I’m delighted and proud to be at Milan,” he said. “I was born and raised here and I never had any doubts about staying in my head. I’m sorry for the fans who felt betrayed, it was not in my intentions and I’m sorry for them, and thank them for their affection in these two years. I’m proud to be here. The fact that I skipped my Matura [High School graduation exams]? I thank the Minister of Education for his letter. I promise next year that I will take it; I was not ready for the exam.”
The goalkeeper later spoke to journalists outside of Casa Milan: “I’m proud and happy to be here. I was born and raised here and there has never been a doubt in my mind. I apologize to the fans, I didn’t want to hurt them, even though I read some things I didn’t want to read. There are things that hurt me, but I’ll forever be a big Milan fan. I thank them for the affection in these two years.
“Our goals? We have big objectives and we want to return to the Champions League. This is our goal. My brother Antonio? I’ve heard so many things that I didn’t like about him. Fassone and Mirabelli wanted him here. For me, it’s nice to have him with me, we are very attached and at Milanello we will share a room. School? I’m only delaying it by a year, I have already promised I will take it next year.”
“The renewal? I’m delighted to be here,” he told MilanTV. “There can be no bigger emotion since I’ve always been a Milan fan. The fans have always been my strength. I’m sorry that they felt betrayed, it was no my intention. I apologize to them and I hope we can go back to the way it was before.
“Antonio? I’m very attached to him, I’m glad he’s here. It’s a dream that he’s here with me. Montella? I thank him for the confidence he’s always given me. We are a great group and we hope to have a good season [the minimum objective is fourth place]. To the fans I say that I’ll give everything for this shirt and I hope they stay close to us because they are our strength. Forza Milan!”
Gigio will be back in Milanello tomorrow for training and will most likely fly out with the squad for the China Tour. The renewal story is behind him, and now the eyes are on having a good season.
End of the drama. Now, put your mouth where your money is and SAVE! Finito! Forza Milan!
He needs to stop saying that he is a Milan fan. Just continue to be a professional keeper. You are not a Milan fan and you don’t have to be one. Just do your job and shut up.
Gigio quotes “I never had any doubts in my mind to leave Milan”. Oh sure, but I wonder why.
Now, I ain’t sayin’ she a gold diggert. But she ain’t messin’ with no broke niggas.
Someone’s been quoting coldplay
Kanye West
Whats done is done and both milan and donna couldnt find better win – win solution than this.
I really hope the boy can be half as good as this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xTV_gmt17hc. Be realistic right?
@Milan10. You keep comparing an 18 year old boy to a 31 year old man. Just shows how good the boy is. Why don’t you do us a favour and show us highlights of an 18 year old Neuer – including the blunders he made? It won’t be too difficult for you to get them since you a big fan.
Why shouldnt i compare maradona of gk to beckenbauer of gk? Young buffon was called “new zenga” or “new zoff” by lots of people and he proved them right so why cant donna, if hes really that good? Besides, i hope donna can be HALF as good as neuer. Never in a million years would i call him next bonauer
In principle you are right about the adorable obsession of Milan10 with Neuer. It’s obvious that at the moment they shouldn’t be compared.
But looking at their salaries he is not unfair to do so. After all, it was Mino who said “Quality doesn’t have age” or so. So if somebody is the Maradona of GK, what’s more natural to compare him with the best available?? When for example you are paid 50% more than Buffon (because “age doesn’t matter”) you should certainly be able to – at least- compare with him. Because “age doesn’t matter”.
That Bonucci story better be fake cos as much as I would love Bonucci here, a swap deal involving Romagnoli and De sciglio is not sensible
It is dude… no one in this world is that insane, not even Galliani!
I totally agree with you. Today Bonucci is 10 times better than Romagnoli. But in 5 years Bonucci would have retired and Romagnoli would be at his peak.
Romagnoli, Rugani, and Caldara are the future of italy. Juve already have 2 of 3.
what about Conti? so Juvi has 2 and we have 2..
What’s this news about a swap deal with June for Bonucci in exchange with mds and Romag
It won’t be easy for you to win back our trust you greedy ass boy. And one thing is for sure, we will never believe that you are a fan ever again. Now at least be a professional and try your best to justify your big salary.
I wonder if he can still kiss the badge in front of the ultras ( Curve Sud )…..and just his mere talk of his love for the club makes me wanna puke.” I hope we can go back like before” come on dude u can not eat your cake and have it back. You have no loyalty
i forgive but never forget, just be profesional & prove us you deserve 6m/y… you love Milan but love money more…
no Romagnoli for Bonucci please, give’em MDS will be smart move…
Bonucci for Romagnoli? that’s totally insane, Bonucci is great,yeah, but he’s 30,Romagnoli is among the top 3 young Italian defenders,juve already have the other two in caldera and rugani,why take all the best Italian young backs to one club,that’s not good for Italian football in general,Bonucci is great yes,but Romagnoli is the future,he was ranked among the best 10 defenders in serie A last season in terms of composure, that shows that he will only get better in time,Desciglio can leave for all I care,we should get kjaer or 20 mil defender for backup to musachio and Romagnoli,Fassobelli have done… Read more »
Conti is not counted as future?
We are talking about central defenders
Thank you for that answer
Reading people’s comments here is a pure entertainment – good thing I got plenty of butter on my popcorn LMFAO. DOnnarumma never said he didn’t want to stay, he never said he wanted to leave for Real Madrid – it was all the agent and media. He said he wanted to stay and he is staying – WTF is everyone bitching about??? And yes, he can still kiss the badge – LOL – what a moranic comment. Guess what, he may be little greedy but all of you would have done the same thing – this is his profession and… Read more »
Well said mate!!!
Spot on. People here are so worried about Chinese money … he is being paid what our mgmt was willing to pay him, the amount they think he’s worth.
Whether we like him or not, Donna is the biggest talent on our squad. And that’s not just my opinion, that’s the general consensus of the professional football world. It’s no coincidence that he’s the only one on our squad being slapped with a 75 mil release clause. No coincidence that we are not worried about Real or Psg snatching anyone else from our squad. We all need to let bygones be bygones, and get behind him so he can perform the way we need him to perform for us. If he plays his potential, he’ll be worth every penny… Read more »
Couldn’t have said it any better!
Is he the biggest talent in our squad? Somehow I still think it’s suso.. to name the few.. his performance against napoli.. inter.. palermo.. juve.. sampdoria (just to name a few).. gave us 11 points.. that’s almost 20% of our points last year. Suso’s whoscored avg rating was 7.17 with 5 motm performances.. dollarumma’s rating was 7.05 with 4 motm performances and you’re telling me dollarumma is the bigger talent? I want whatever you’re smoking, man..
Dude, there’s so much that’s wrong with your logic … But let try to keep it simple: Do you see Real Madrid buying Suso, and for a starting position no more no less? Do you think we can fetch 50-60 mil for him? Seriously. Market value (the real one, not the one from one of your favorite websites) is a good approximation of how the professional football world evaluates a player. Whoscored.com is not. And yes, I am aware Suso scored more goals than Donna last season. Suso is great, and he could potentially reach world class level; Donna is… Read more »
@L96ai. Did you and Milan10 attend the same school? The key word here is “TALENT” for goodness’ sake.
Take into account that Suso is 5 Years older than Donnarumma. I am pretty sure when Suso was in his teens he was not getting higher scores from Whoscored than those you mentioned above for Donnarumma.
I am one of Suso’s biggest fans here but perspective is important when you are comparing players.
So whoscored ratings are more important than watching games with ur own eyes now? Forsberg and donna got better ratings than kroos and neuer on that site, does that mean forsberg and donna are better? Hell no.
I still remember donna’s “saves” vs cagliari that led to goals from a rebound. Neuer doesnt just block the ball, he hits it with his powerful hands sending it flying in the direction where there will be no rebound. And thats what makes neuer at least 2 levels above this overrated joker
Neuer is currently better than Donna. Neuer is the best GK in the world today. Full stop. But again your exaggerating the difference mate, mostly because (at least it seems) your unhappy with Donna’s behavior off field. You are 100% entitled to your opinion, but I repeat: It’s not only my opinion, it’s the general consensus that they are both at the same bracket of GKs, so top 8 or 10. I base this on market value, on Fassobelli’s valuation of Donna, and not on this or that website. And believe me, I’ve seen Neuer fumble here and there as… Read more »
1) what makes u think real/psg really offered > 30m for donna? Had madrid really tried, donna wouldve been madrid player already. 2) yeah neuer like any human being makes mistakes too but his spectacular saves eclipse his few mistakes. 3) saying donna is top 10 gk is insult to gk profession. Buerki, adler, ter stegen, neuer, mandanda, lloris, de gea, ochoa, buffon, handanovic, hart, navas, oblak, de gea, cech, courtois, trapp, ederson, schmeichel, perin, and maybe even cillessen are all better than him, and thats already 20 gk. 4) just because madrid/psg supposedly want to overspend on player (like… Read more »
You’ve made sense today
@Baresis Dream. Talking of Neuer’s fumbles. In the recent Champs League match between Madrid and Bayern. Neuer allowed a C Ronaldo header to go through his legs, from a fair distance out – the type of save we expect Donna to make. A few seasons ago when Barca won the treble, Neuer was beaten at the near post by Neymar. If I watched the Bundesliga I could point out a few more.
Precisely. But I won’t take any credit from Neuer, he’s great. And so it Donna.
Kind of save we expect donna to make? U mean like his “saves” in recent euro u21?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRWH7zSjbw
The day donna pull something like this then he’ll be top 10 gk
My advice to him for the following season is to keep both his mouth and his goal shut, as much as he can.
I would give the same advice to you – especially keeping your mouth shot. If you telling someone to do it (someone that you don’t pay), you need to lead by example.
Actually he pays him. We all do. How dyu think football clubs make their money. Its not like they manufacture it.
Make your point and stop attacking kourosh unnecessary, besides we all have different opinions to suggest
He pays him by posting on this site maybe? Oh man, that’s some funny shit…
Why don’t you lead by example first Joe and “shot” your mouth. If you wanna slam someone try and at least spell correctly moron.
Manga la figa – Didn’t your mother teach you that you shouldn’t talk when not being talked to? Shut your pie hole and the world will be a better place. Oh yeah, one more thing, make sure to hit thumb down, I love when that happens.
Joe..joe..why does ur avatar often change colors, changing the tone of ur comments accordingly too? Is it emotion related? The purple joe is the lol-ing joker joe and the green joe is angry hulk joe, like that movie inside out? I know its tough being milanisti but dont let urself slide mate
Joe, you’re a moron. Lol
Comment:Make the goalposts your office and prove you worth the money
When people try to defend Gigio’s case, they all get hanged up by the “players are getting payed more elsewhere”!? Or even worse, they throw it on professionalism & the way of securing his life! Let’s go over some facts here: 1. He spoke about his “affiction” to Milan and how he always wanted to stay, let alone kissing the badge. 2. He was offered 5M, and had to think for 2.5 month about it, keep in mind this’s more than our captains & coach got, more than any other teenager in the history and more than 5 times his… Read more »
Somehow I can only see “bla bla bla… yada yada yada..” on my screen..
Boy. You better justify that salary or the fans will turn on you like rabid dogs.
I’m sure you are delighted to be at Milan as you pocket 6 mil, despite sucking at euros and failing to get any concrete offer from any good club.
There are still many keepers better than you, so put your head down and do the job at hand.
NO SCHOOL BOY ERRORS LIKE PREVIOUS SEASON PLEASE. WE DON’T EXPECT THAT FROM THE HIGHEST PAID KEEPER IN ITALY.
Correct me please if he is higher paid than Buffon with this contract?
Regarding bonucci, juve have de facto 3 best CB in Italy and the result is 6 straight scudetti. Barzagli (and Buffon) is nearly retiring so if Milan can get bonucci then they can destroy juve’s core from the inside, effectively ending their reign, like how Milan domination ended when baresi and tassotti retired in late ’90. Bonucci is great Italian CB and anyone who watches football knows great Italian CB like scirea, bergomi, baresi, Maldini (he’s CB late in his latter days), nesta, cannavaro, Barzagli and lord bonera can stay at their peak until 34-35 Rugani and caldara are good… Read more »
I was quite negative in the beginning but you make a really good point. Especially given the bad condition of our squad at the moment, we desperately need proven champions. This is actually all we miss.
For well-established, winning teams, maybe it’s all the way around – especially in the long run. But we tend to forget that we are not one of them. At least not at the moment.
Correctamundo mate. Thats why i think bonucci will be even better signing than fancy striker
Agree 100%. Defense wins games and if you build from the back to the front you will always have a solid foundation.
I was quite negative in the beginning but you make a really good point. Especially given the bad condition of our squad at the moment, we desperately need proven champions. This is actually all we miss.
For well-established, winning teams, maybe it’s all the way around – especially in the long run. But we tend to forget that we are not one of them. At least not at the moment.
Mark my word here, when he makes a save like that one against Khedira, 99% of you will be delighted with him again. The whole thing of my support for Donnarumma is, he can guarantee you 10-15 points a season. Maybe even 20. And for a team who wants to challenge for Scudetto again, you guys don’t want him? He betrayed you? Personally? You’d rather have Perin on goal than him? He is 18 and he is earning more than you when you were 18, but he is not earning it doing something special like making those spectacular saves. Every… Read more »
@Ink. He made an even better save in the recent match against Roma, the player is Paredes I think.
Very sad news about that Nouri chap indeed.
@Ink. He made an even better save in the recent match against Roma, the Roma player is Paredes I think. I swear even Buffon could not have made that save. Not saying that Donna is already better than Buffon but Donna has an indisputable advantage when it comes to wingspan.
Rugby is my 2nd favourite sport and I learned from there that in some key positions, size gives you a 5% advantage over other players who may be equally talented.
Very sad news about that Nouri chap indeed!