Anything north of £50 million is way too much to pay even if it’s for Italian goalkeeping prodigy Gianluigi Donnarumma.
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I’m a fan of AC Milan shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma. But if Rory Marsden of Bleacher Report is to be believed, even I find the rumored £100 million-plus bid for him from Manchester City to be absurd.
Marsden invokes Sky Sports Italia, asserting City is ready to spend anywhere between £104.2 to £130.3 million for the 18-year-old. Apparently Donnarumma’s contract expires at the end of the season, and that might be an opening for City to snag the wunderkind who’s been compared to Italian great Gianluigi Buffon.
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Speaking of Buffon, as a point of comparison, Marsden notes Juventus paid Parma £32.6 million for him in 2001, the highest transfer fee for a goalie ever. So at that exchange value, for £104.2 million, City should get three Buffon-caliber players. For £130.3 million, it would be four.
As promising as Donnarumma looks, there’s no guarantee he’ll have a comparable career to Buffon. Even if he holds down the position for the next 15 years-plus for Pep Guardiola‘s side, that sort of stability could be had for less.
Put simply, inflation sucks, but City should look elsewhere for more feasible options.
I would suggest giving Joe Hart another chance. Ultimately, denying the ball from going into the net is more important than being able to play out of the back. I’d also gamble and say Hart would concede less than 23 goals on 57 shots on target (as of Jan. 15) unlike the disappointing Claudio Bravo. The Chilean has been so dismal, BBC Sport reports in the same article that a caller to the BBC caller designated him as a “false no. 1.”
Ouch.
Anyway, there’s too much bad blood between the English international and Guardiola to return Hart to the fold. Plus, Guardiola’s genius is assailed by the above reasoning. For better or worse, he’s stuck in his ways.
Another option is Benfica’s Brazilian barrier Ederson. Rumors suggest, thanks to Guardiola’s personal touch, that a deal between Ederson and City is nigh. Metro estimates signing him would cost £27 million.
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That’s considerably cheaper than levying a monster bid for Donnarumma.