FPL new signings: What can we expect from Donnarumma at City?

Manchester City have completed the £26m signing of Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.5m) from Paris Saint-Germain.

The Italian goalkeeper’s move comes following the departure of Man City’s former No 1 Ederson to Fenerbahce for £12m.

Donnarumma is the second keeper to arrive at the Etihad Stadium following the signing of James Trafford (£5.0m) from Burnley in July, while Stefan Ortega (£4.9m) and Marcus Bettinelli (£4.0m) also remain part of the first-team squad.

In this Scout Report, we assess the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) appeal of Donnarumma.

THE MOVE IN QUOTES

“I’ve always trained well and I couldn’t wait to join City because they really wanted me. The coach really wanted me, and that made me proud. To be wanted so strongly by the best club in the world makes me proud, but also very emotional and happy.” – Gianluigi Donnarumma

“When you are wanted so strongly by a club like City, it means you’ve worked well. Being wanted by one of the strongest coaches in the world like Guardiola is an indescribable emotion.”

– Gianluigi Donnarumma

HISTORY

Though still only 26, Donnarumma has been playing first-team football at the highest level for a decade. He became the third-youngest goalkeeper ever to debut in Serie A, when he turned out for AC Milan in October 2015 aged 16 years and 242 days. He immediately established himself as a first-team regular and remained so for six seasons, earning comparisons for his calm air of authority, positioning and shot-saving ability with his childhood hero Gianluigi Buffon.

Indeed, he followed Buffon’s footsteps by becoming the youngest keeper to play for the Italian national team aged 17 years and 189 days. He came into his own when helping the Azzurri win the 2020 European Championship, starring in shoot-outs in the semi-final against Spain and the final against England and being named player of the tournament for his penalty-saving heroics.

Donnarumma left Milan that summer (2021) to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer that did not go down well with Rossoneri fans, who questioned his so-called love for the club he had supported as a boy. Indeed when the two teams met, exactly eight years on from his Serie A debut, he was showered with fake money and taunts of ‘Dollarumma’.

His feats were more widely recognised by the watching world, however, and in 2021, he won the Lev Yashin trophy for the best goalkeeper of the year. Donnarumma won four successive Ligue 1 trophies in a glittering four years at PSG, his only blip coming when he was initially dropped by new coach Luis Enrique, who questioned his ability with his feet. But the Italy international soon won back his place and gave a series of sensational performances to help PSG win the Champions League for the first time.

PLAYING STYLE

Donnarumma is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. In terms of pure shot-stopping, he is elite. His positioning is first-class and his 6ft 5in frame, allied to cat-like reflexes, enables him to reach shots that ordinary goalkeepers cannot.

Although he can be suspect on crosses and high balls, where he does not quite command his area as someone of his stature should, he is brave and will put his neck on the line to dive at a striker’s feet in one-on-one situations. This courage came at a cost last December when he suffered a facial injury in a collision with Monaco’s Wilfried Singo that has left him with a permanent scar. Occasionally, it is opposing players who end up worse off, as occurred with Jamal Musiala, whose leg was broken in a fair but unfortunate challenge with the Italian at the Club World Cup this summer.

Donnarumma has also forged a reputation as a penalty-saving specialist. The 26-year-old has made 14 spot-kick saves in top-flight football, and that’s without counting penalty shoot-outs. The Naples native thrives in such high-voltage scenarios, shining memorably at Euro 2020 but also in last season’s Champions League when his heroics helped eliminate Liverpool in the round of 16. Donnarumma was exceptional in that second leg at Anfield, and was even better in the semi-final against Arsenal. The Gunners were the only side to outperform the Parisiens on expected goals (xG) in the knockout stage, but could find no way past the unflappable Italian, who made five saves from five shots on target.

Graphic courtesy of FBref

So if he is so good, why have PSG let him go? At 26 he is not yet in his prime, he has at least another decade of first-team football ahead of him and, by all accounts, is a delightful chap in the dressing room. Luis Enrique has said that he is looking for a different type, and the suspicion is that the Spaniard has never quite been sold on Donnarumma’s ability to pass out from the back. Apart from crosses, this is the only other real chink in the Italian’s armour.

“The decision has to do with the profile of the goalkeeper. It wasn’t an easy decision but I take full responsibility for it.” – Luis Enrique on moving on from Donnarumma

Indeed, as demonstrated by The Athletic recently, Donnarumma does not have the same range of distribution that made his Brazilian predecessor so beloved by Guardiola.

Graphic courtesy of The Athletic

CITY’S NEW NO 1

The fascinating aspect to this signing is that, though excellent, Donnarumma does not fit the profile of goalkeeper Pep Guardiola has been at pains to recruit in the past. Joe Hart and then Claudio Bravo were both bombed out of City for failing to meet the Spaniard’s ball-playing standards. He has always insisted that his keepers take risks by passing out from the back.

As the above graphic shows, Ederson excelled at playing longer balls as well as threading passes through the opposition’s press, while Donnarumma is more comfortable playing shorter passes.

With City having got off to their worst ever start to the season under Guardiola, some believe that he is for once sacrificing his philosophy at the altar of pragmatism in order to simply have an elite keeper who is a remarkable save-maker. Perhaps he has tired of watching his teams get punished on the counter-attack because there is no miracle worker between the sticks to dig them out of trouble. Perhaps he has seen enough of Trafford to believe he is not yet ready to be a title-challenging No 1. It is certainly true that the England Under-21 international has made costly errors with his passing already this season and has not totally convinced.

It is more likely that, rather than throw his footballing credo in the bin, Pep has decided to tweak his system by refraining from going long. Guardiola probably considers Donnarumma good enough at short passing to play out from the back via his ball-playing defenders.It was good enough for PSG to win the Champions League after all.

Either way, Guardiola cannot have bought Donnarumma to put him on the bench. In a World Cup year the Azzurri captain needs to be playing regularly especially as, remarkably though it sounds, he is yet to play in a World Cup. Assurances will have been made. The Italian will play.

THE FPL PROSPECTS

So the next question is, is Donnarumma worth buying? At £5.5m, he is not cheap, but if City start to find form again, then clean sheets will surely follow for Donnarumma. City have not had much of a pre-season due to their Club World Cup commitments, so they have yet to find their sea legs.

Rodri (£6.4m) has only just returned to the team, and connections with new arrivals like Tijjani Reijnders (£5.7m) will take time to form. City’s attacking style is such that they are always likely to concede chances, but that will also enhance the prospect of Donnarumma racking up save points.

The fixtures are still quite tricky for City, so the best advice is to keep a watching brief over the next two or three Gameweeks. But once they have negotiated the Manchester derby and the trip to Arsenal, the schedule eases up, and by then, with some managers even contemplating using a Free Hit or a Wildcard, we may have seen enough to put faith in City’s prima Donnarumma. That said, we’ll need to see improvement from City’s backline before splashing the big bucks on Donnarumma.

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