Fabrizio Romano explains why Manchester City sought to defer Gianluigi Donnarumma transfer | OneFootball

A new report by transfer insider Fabrizio Romano has outlined the contours of Manchester City’s transfer strategy around Gianluigi Donnarumma heading into the recent transfer window.

Manchester City overhauled their goalkeeping department this summer with the acquisitions of Marcus Bettinelli and James Trafford from Chelsea and Burnley respectively, with Donnarumma also completing a £26 million switch to the Etihad Stadium on deadline day.

Hugo Viana has revamped Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad in his first summer as director of football, with a change of guard witnessing the departures of Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan, Scott Carson and James McAtee.

City endured an underwhelming 2024-25 season that saw the Blues record a third-place Premier League finish with 71 points – their lowest league tally under Guardiola. The Blues also exited the UEFA Champions League at the Round of 16 stage and lost the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace.

There remained huge question marks over the future(s) of Ederson and Stefan Ortega Moreno heading into the summer transfer window, with Guardiola initially considering the pair part of his plans and going as far as declaring publicly that the pair would stay put.

However, Ederson wanted a new challenge after eight seasons in England and the 31-year-old’s desire of an exit saw Manchester City identify Donnarumma as an ideal replacement, with the latter on the lookout for a new club in the window after an ugly public fallout with Paris Saint-Germain.

Donnarumma was entering the final year of his deal at the Parc des Princes and having spearheaded the Parisiens to their maiden UEFA Champions League title in May, the Italian wanted a major salary hike to commit his future to the French giants.

However, a contract dispute between the goalkeeper and the PSG board saw Donnarumma fall out of favour in Paris, with PSG boss Luis Enrique publicly stating that Donnarumma was no longer part of his plans. Lucas Chevalier was signed from Lille as a replacement for the former AC Milan man.

Manchester City were closely monitoring Donnarumma’s contract situation from afar and as soon as a parting of ways between the shotstopper and PSG was confirmed, Guardiola and the City board did everything in their power to convince the 26-year-old to join them in Manchester.

Donnarumma has signed a five-year deal at the Etihad Stadium and after impressing on his Premier League debut in a 3-0 derby win over Manchester United on Sunday, the Italian is in line to keep his spot between the sticks in upcoming games against Napoli and Arsenal.

However, transfer insider Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Manchester City had initially planned to make an approach for Donnarumma in the summer of 2026, had the former PSG man seen out his final deal at the Parc des Princes to thereby be available on a free transfer next summer.

“Manchester City planned (Gianluigi) Donnarumma as a potential target for 2026. Man City wanted to sign Donnarumma on a free – that was their plan internally,” said Romano on his YouTube channel.

“If Donnarumma would be available in 2026 on a free (transfer), Man City were prepared to enter the race. But when they were made aware of the opportunity to sign Donnarumma immediately – despite signing James Trafford – Man City entered very strong.

“Pep Guardiola entered as part of the conversation and he was absolutely crucial to convince Donnarumma. He didn’t need to be convinced because Donnarumma was very happy about the Man City project, but having Pep Guardiola pushing to sign the player was also, for sure, a factor.”