Chelsea legend slams club for missed transfer opportunity for £26M Manchester City star | OneFootball

Former Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder Mikel John Obi has criticised the west London club’s recruitment over their failure in entering the race for Gianluigi Donnarumma this summer.

Donnarumma suffered a public fallout with Paris Saint-Germain in the closing stages of the summer transfer window, having spearheaded the treble winners to their premier UEFA Champions League title in May with a stellar run of performances in the knockout stages of the competition.

The 26-year-old was entering the last year of his final contract at the Parc des Princes and wanted a significant pay rise from his previous deal – a demand that was not met by PSG bosses, who decided to move on from Donnarumma and recruit Lucas Chevalier from Lille to replace the AC Milan graduate.

PSG manager Luis Enrique also swiftly moved on from Donnarumma, who confirmed his departure from the French club in a social media post that set the wheels in motion in Manchester, where City’s director of football Hugo Viana and co saw an opportunity they deemed too good to turn down in a volatile market.

Manchester City underwent a major rejig of their dressing room upon Viana’s arrival to England from Portugal in the summer, with Txiki Begiristain bidding farewell to the eight-time Premier League champions after serving as sporting director for twelve-and-a-half years.

Viana helped remake City’s department from top to bottom as the Blues secured the arrival(s) of Marcus Bettinelli and James Trafford – with the former brought in as third-choice goalkeeper following the departure of Scott Carson at the end of his contract.

There remained question marks over Ederson’s future at the Etihad Stadium until deadline day and City brought back Trafford from Burnley by activating a buy-back clause in the contract of their academy graduate, who started each of their opening trio of Premier League games this term.

However, Viana and co saved the best for last as they pulled off what has widely been hailed as the signing of the summer by sealing a sensational £26 million transfer for Donnarumma from PSG – after allowing Ederson to join Fenerbahce for £12.1 million – on deadline day.

On the latest episode of The Obi One podcast, former Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder Mikel John Obi has questioned why his former club did not pounce on the chance to sign Donnarumma on a cut-price deal this summer.

“Donnarumma for me was, you know, he was out there. He was available in the market. Why we didn’t get him? I have absolutely no idea,” Mikel said, as quoted by The Chelsea Chronicle.

“I’ve said it so many times, you know, I don’t care and I’ll still say it. I just think that for me, (Robert) Sanchez, I feel he’s not the goalkeeper that will take us to the next level.”

Viana has received huge plaudits for his shrewd recruitment in his first summer at the Etihad Stadium and despite the club’s stellar acquisitions of Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki in midfield, few would argue that Donnarumma is the best addition to Guardiola’s squad as City embark upon a new era under the Catalan.