Gianluigi Donnarumma has set his sights on joining Manchester City this summer.
The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper’s chances of moving to the Etihad have improved markedly this week, with Manchester United ready to stick with Andre Onana instead.
The i Paper has been told City’s pursuit of keepers was always going to continue after the return of James Trafford from Burnley, with Donnarumma’s representatives understood to have been in talks with City executives for months over a surprise move.
United appeared to be frontrunners for the 29-year-old’s signature, as they too have been in contact, but several sources admitted a deal is unlikely due to the Italian’s wage demands and age profile.
That means, with Onana winning his battle to be fit for United’s Premier League curtain raiser against Arsenal on Sunday, the Cameroonian will almost certainly remain as No 1, with Ruben Amorim giving the error-prone stopper his full backing ahead of the new campaign.
Andre Onana is set to be fit for the opener against Arsenal (Photo: Getty)
Sources claim City must sell Ederson before they can bring Donnarumma in.
The problem for Donnarumma, who released a statement on Tuesday to express his “disappointment” after being omitted from PSG’s Super Cup squad, is that none of his suitors, Chelsea being another long-term admirer, can do a deal now.
They have received no bids as yet, with the Brazilian not agitating for the move currently.
Ederson has been linked with a move to Galatasaray and could still command a substantial fee.
Trafford’s arrival as serious competition for his spot could persuade him to seek pastures new, especially given City have not come out and said he will stay.
Donnarumma has one year left on his PSG deal and appears to have no future at the club after his Super Cup omission.
The Champions League winners don’t want to lose him on a free, so could sell at less than their initial £26m asking price, insiders said.
The opportunity, another well-placed source said, to sign Donnarumma for what would be a knockdown price could be “impossible to ignore”.
Donnarumma’s agent Enzo Raiola has come out and publicly insisted his client was willing to cut his salary to stay in France – he is currently one of the highest-paid keepers in the world.
French sources insist Donnarumma was made a suitable offer but his representatives wanted more and turned it down.
With United seemingly out of the picture and Chelsea also happy with their lot for the new season, the player himself is very keen on a move to City and has no plans to act as understudy to Trafford.
No other suitors have presented themselves as yet.
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Buoyed by their £200m new strikeforce, United supporters had been getting very excited about the prospect of Donnarumma usurping Onana ahead of the new season, with Onana linked with a move to Saudi Arabia.
No such transfer has taken place, with United not prioritising signing a replacement for Onana in the next few weeks.
They have looked at bringing in a younger, more inexperienced keeper for a reasonable fee to provide competition for the Cameroon international, but Amorim and the club’s new leadership group have been planning to stick by Onana for now at least.
A hamstring injury kept Onana out of United’s pre-season tour to the United States, and he will come into Sunday without having featured in any friendlies at all.
That is unlikely to affect Amorim’s thinking ahead of Sunday.