How long will AC Milan be able to hold on to Gianluigi Donnarumma if managers like Arsène Wenger and Pep Guardiola come knocking? That is the big question in Italy these days.
The 17-year-old goalkeeper, now Gianluigi Buffon’s number two in the Italy squad, has made verbal commitments to his beloved club in the press multiple times, but money talks, it always does.
That is what Corriere dello Sport are trying to get at in their Thursday edition, looking at all the possible scenarios that could face the young goalkeeper, even giving us a map to go with it.
Juventus is the obvious one, with Buffon being 38 years old and all that, while Paris Saint-Germain is also an option, despite Alphonse Aréola’s emergence.
In Spain, Barcelona have Marc-André ter Stegen, and Real Madrid (with Keylor Navas) are banned from signing anyone until January 2018.
This leaves the Premier League, and Corriere first go through the two who don’t need him (Chelsea with Thibaut Courtois and Manchester United with David De Gea), before focusing on those who do.
The two obvious ones are Arsenal and Manchester City, as Claudio Bravo (33) isn’t exactly a long-term option for Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad, while Petr Cech (34) could be the ‘brooding hen’ for a younger goalkeeper at the Emirates.
Completely forgetting about Arsenal loanee Wojciech Szczesny and Manchester City’s Joe Hart (who seems unlikely to be a Guardiola success), Corriere then move onto Liverpool and talk about Simon Mignolet without even mentioning the goalkeeper who has already displaced him in Loris Karius.
Our bet? He stays at AC Milan with new owners who would love nothing more than rejecting offers for their starlet to show their new power in the world of football.
Plus, Donnarumma has already said he wants to captain the Rossoneri in the future.