Donnarumma: Working with Pep is every player’s dream | OneFootball

Gianluigi Donnarumma says he’s relishing working under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola at City.

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And the Italy international has explained how the Catalan has already helped him massively during his time at the Club so far.

The goalkeeper arrived at the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2025 in the latest step of an illustrious career that has seen him enjoy trophy-laden spells in Italy with AC Milan, France with PSG and on the international stage.

Since then, he’s made 12 appearances for the Blues in all competitions and registered an impressive seven clean sheets.

And the 26-year-old paid tribute to Guardiola’s stewardship during his time at the club to date.

“He’s given me lots of advice and he talks to me a lot. He’s helped me a lot,” Donnarumma explained.

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“He’s a very special coach and it’s fantastic to have Pep Guardiola as my coach. It’s every player’s dream and I’m very happy.”

After completing his transfer to City, Donnarumma’s was handed a tantalising Manchester derby as is first assignment at the club.

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Playing the full 90 minutes, he helped Guardiola’s side to a strong 3-0 victory over Manchester United.

For the Italian shot stopper, the victory over our arch-rivals and the support of his teammates has helped him hit the ground running at the club.

He added: “Everyone has made me feel very welcome. It’s the most important thing.

“Arriving here and having a very important match, like Manchester United, and the first match, if you don’t have a great team that welcomes you well, it’s very difficult.

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“And that’s been very important. Everyone talks to me. They tell me lots of things to improve and that’s very important.”

City’s next assignment is a Premier League trip to Newcastle as we chase a fifth successive win in all competitions.

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Heading into the fixture at St James’ Park, Guardiola’s side are equipped with an immensely in-form Erling Haaland who has scored 32 goals for club and country in just 20 matches in 2025/26 so far.

A total of 19 of those have come for the Blues and the Norwegian is one goal away from notching 100 in the Premier League.

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And Donnarumma believes Haaland is undoubtedly among the world’s best.

“He’s an incredible player,” he declared.

“It’s important to have a player like that in our team. He’s a great player; he’s one of the best in the world and it’s fantastic.

“It’s a pleasure to play him. He’s very calm and he works a lot for the team. And he’s a great friend too.”

Newcastle v city app coverage

Our official Man City app allows you to follow all of the action in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 16:15 (UK).

Steve Howey and Rob Lee will join Natalie Pike as the former players offer their expert insight before, during and after the action.

During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Michael Brown, while our text commentary continues.

Make sure to have push notifications turned on, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.

A quick-hit 2-minute highlights package will be available from 21:15 (UK) while you can sign-in to watch a free 8-minute edit from midnight.

Meanwhile on CITY+, from midnight there’ll be our popular full-match replay as well as our new extended highlights reel showing the best 20 minutes of action from the game.