The 18-year-old goalkeeper made his debut at 16 for the Italian
giants and has already racked up 68 appearances for the Rossoneri
between the posts.
He spent the majority of that time beloved by fans for his
accomplishment at such a young age, with many thinking that youngster
from southern Italy would grow to become the club's answer to Gianluigi
Buffon.
Donnarumma has lived up to those expectations in many ways, on the
pitch he has been superb, reeling off a series of dramatic stops and
earning a call-up to the Italian national squad, for whom he debuted for
at the age of 17.
AC Milan teenager Gianluigi Donnarumma
became the youngest goalkeeper to start a Serie A match when he made his
debut for the club at the age of 16 years, eight months and six days. The relationship between the club and Donnarumma began to sour as
protracted negotiations between the club and his agent, Mino Raiola,
went slowly before stalling entirely. A.C. Milan were informed that
Donnarumma would not be signing a new contract and the criticism of the
former 'golden boy' came flooding in.
Arrigo Sacchi, who was the coach of the back-to-back European Cup
winning A.C. Milan sides of 1988 and 1989 was the most prominent of the
critics.
“I used to respect Donnarumma as a lad and as a player, but I was
stunned by the lack of gratitude towards Milan,” wrote Sacchi in La
Gazzetta dello Sport.
“This decision makes me doubt not just his personal integrity, but also what his future career will hold.
“I want to remind him of all those who put money before all else, for
example Kaka and Shevchenko, who left Milan for Real Madrid and Chelsea
only to later bitterly regret it.”
Massimiliano Mirabelli, A.C. Milan director, went into some detail
about what had been on the table throughout the ultimately unsuccessful
negotiations.
“We wanted to make him a symbol of Milan for our fans and Gigio
(Donnarumma) had everything required to fill that role,” director of
sport Mirabelli told the Corriere dello Sport.
Gianluigi Donnarumma has his eyes on becoming the captain of AC Milan - even if that ambition must wait for a decade.
“He would’ve had the captain’s armband and, frankly, it was an
enormous offer, considering his young age and Milan’s situation: €25m
net over five years means €50m gross for the club.
“We are upset, naturally, just as our fans are. And I say that with
the utmost respect for Gigio and Raiola: everyone is free to make
whatever decision they deem right.
“Now we are looking for a goalkeeper worthy of Milan. Whoever plays for Milan must realise what this jersey means.”
The fans lined up to lay into the young goalkeeper, with Milan
twitter going into overdrive after it was announced that Donnarumma
wouldn't be re-signing.
Former A.C. Milan goalkeepers also lined up to criticise the
18-year-old. Enrico Albertosi, who played for the club between 1974-80,
took an interesting line - that Donnarumma wasn't that good.
“It’s crazy that an 18-year-old kid can turn down an important
contract offered by a big club like Milan to go who knows where,” former
goalkeeper Albertosi told ItaSportPress.
“He might not even be the first choice elsewhere, because he still
hasn’t proved that he is a great goalkeeper. He’s done well at Milan,
but also made some errors with worrying ups and downs.
“He betrayed Milan, turning his back on a great club that put its
faith in him and launched him in Serie A at the age of 17. I think the
lad should’ve made his will clear to his agent, because the athletes
always make the final decision.
“As far as I can tell, it was Donnarumma’s desire to leave and he was 100 per cent wrong.”
Sebastiano Rossi, who layed for A.C. Milan between 1990-2002
delivered his slight to Donnarumma via Twitter, again in a slightly
perplexing fashion.
The translation reads, "Donnarumma, I am giving you this signed shirt
so you can have a feel of what it is like to keep a clean sheet for 929
minutes. I'm not sure you will be able to do it at Real Madrid."
Whilst Gianluigi Donnarumma has kept a public silence on the matter,
his brother and fellow goalkeeper at Asteras Tripoli F.C, Antonio
Donnarumma, fired back via an Instagram post.
The translation reads, "I turn to those people who have done nothing but insult Gigio and all of our family
Gigio has been a Milan fan since he was little, it was a dream for him to play in the Milan shirt.
He has always honoured that shirt and given his soul for it. He cried after every defeat.
Until yesterday you were all behind Gigio, now without knowing
anything you are insulting our whole family, writing things that our
family wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy.
Our family has been overjoyed and have wept along with all you fans.
Milan has an incredible history, and nobody can ever question that.
For those who have written messages of support for Gigio, I want to
tell you that you truly understand the kind of person Gigio is, anything
he’s done, any phrase he’s said or written has been done out of love
for Milan.
Above all, Gigio is a Milan fan like you, and anyone who insults him
isn’t a Milan fan. You can fill this photo with insults now, but leave
our family out of it.
They always taught us the real values of life."
The decision on what to do with the young star keeper is now to be
made, with a number of clubs understood to be keen to welcome Donnarumma
into the fold. Whether A.C. Milan will let him go is another matter,
with the more vindictive suggesting that Donnarumma should sit on the
bench for the entire season.
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