In Gianluigi Donnarumma and Josko Gvardiol, the future looks bright for Man City’s defence | OneFootball

Ask Pep Guardiola what Gianluigi Donnarumma has given Manchester City and the Catalan can bristle. Not because he is reluctant to praise his new goalkeeper, but because he was so fond of his predecessor. “Never, never, never will I compliment Donnarumma [while] disrespecting the most important keeper that we’ve had in this club in 10 years,” he said a couple of weeks ago.

Ederson felt the closest thing to a soulmate that Guardiola could find in gloves. Donnarumma, the shot-stopper supreme, can appear on the other side of goalkeeping’s ideological divide. Maybe Josko Gvardiol lacked Guardiola’s sense of diplomacy, however, by displaying a greater willingness to celebrate the summer signing. What, the defender was asked, was it like with Donnarumma in goal? “It’s much easier,” he said.

Which could simply reflect the sense that the Italian may be the world’s best goalkeeper and was certainly a catalyst in Paris Saint-Germain winning the Champions League last year. Or that Gvardiol joined City in 2023, after Ederson’s Champions League final heroics against Internazionale, when his performances started to become more erratic (though his assists were more frequent). Gvardiol played with Stefan Ortega too, both when the German made his title-winning save from Heung-Min Son at Tottenham in 2024 and when their mix-up in the FA Cup final gifted Alejandro Garnacho the opening goal.

He has only spent 27 minutes on the pitch with James Trafford and was sidelined when the Englishman erred as City lost to Tottenham in August. But, after Ederson’s long reign, it reflected a certain volatility when Trafford was deposed by Donnarumma’s sudden arrival and when, on his debut, the Italian became City’s fourth goalkeeper in seven games.

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Gianluigi Donnarumma is getting to know his new defenders (Action Images/Reuters)

Now he looks a fixture. “He adapted really quick and I think that’s a really important thing because I know when I joined Man City, how long it took me to adapt to the league to all the competitions,” said Gvardiol. Now the Croatian is bracketed a success. He was named City’s player of the year in their traumatic 2024-25 but, as he accepted, he had a slower start.

Goalkeeping problems ranked among their issues last season; arguably, with the team losing its control, cohesion and consistency, there was a greater case for bringing in a goalkeeping goalkeeper, someone who could be a matchwinner with his ability to execute spectacular saves. Which, on occasions, Ederson did, even if his added dimension came with his feet.

“Man City as a club, always in the past, they had really good goalkeepers,” said Gvardiol. “Gigio is one of them as well.” Perhaps he sees the Euro 2020 winner as part of a lineage involving Frank Swift and Bert Trautmann, Joe Corrigan and Joe Hart. Maybe it is a more recent reference.

Whichever, City have improved at the back with Donnarumma. “The good thing I see is that we fight for each other, we work for each other, we communicate even more than before and also it’s much easier when you have a goalkeeper like Gigio,” said Gvardiol. As the defender added, reports of the Italian’s inability to pass the ball were exaggerated, even if he is no Ederson. “He’s really good on the ball and especially with his height, he’s not afraid to come off the line,” said Gvardiol. “He’s important for us.”

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Josko Gvardiol took time to settle in the Premier League (AP)

The numbers support that. Donnarumma has healthy save percentages of 80 in the Champions League and 76.5 in the Premier League. In both competitions, according to post-shot expected goals, he has saved more goals than he ought to have done. City, who conceded 78 times last season, have only let in seven goals in his 11 appearances, even if there is a frustration that two, away at Arsenal and Monaco, were 90th-minute equalisers. They have lost just once, at Aston Villa. There have been a series of fine saves and a lone error that cost a goal: even that, against Bournemouth, was, Donnarumma felt, because he was fouled by David Brooks before he punched the ball to the scorer Tyler Adams. He disputed the decision.

“What kind of character [is he]?” mused Gvardiol. “You can see every time, he argues with the referees and he gets booked almost every game.” Which is an exaggeration – the Italian has three cautions in his 11 outings – but Gvardiol intended it as a compliment. He continued: “But that’s what we need and, because for me as a defender, when you see that someone from the goal is pushing you, supporting you for 90 minutes, then I can push the ones in front of me.”

That demanding nature has been welcomed. “Of course, we get along good and he’s a nice guy,” said Gvardiol. He highlighted another element: Like Gvardiol, he is hugely experienced for his years. “He’s still young as well,” continued the Croatian. “So I think we’re going to spend many more years together.” Gvardiol and Donnarumma, at 23 and 26, could be the future of the City defence, and that may be bad news for many an opposition forward.