As AS announced last Friday, the option of signing the Italian national team goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (22 years old) for Barcelona is taking shape. Despite the fact that Milan has qualified for the next edition of the Champions League, a condition that a priori could help the renewal of Gigio (the goalkeeper's nickname in Italy), the truth is that Paolo Maldini, sports director of the Lombard club, has broken up with Mino Raiola, the goalkeeper's agent, who will not continue at San Siro and is looking for a team.
On behalf of Milan, Maldini has not agreed to Donnarumma's renewal requests or the commission demanded by his representative and has decided to sign French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, recent Ligue1 champion with Lille. The announcement could be made official in the next few hours.
This situation leaves Donnarumma in search of a team because today the bridges of reconciliation with Milan are destroyed. Raiola has offered Donnarumma to Juventus to Paris Saint-Germain, to various English teams and also to Barcelona.
The good relationship between Raiola and Joan Laporta leaves the Blaugrana club at an advantage over other possible competitors, but at the cost of facing a high-risk operation such as the sale of Ter Stegen, one of the few players for whom Barcelona could get a good amount in the market. The German, currently injured after undergoing surgery on the patellar tendon in his right knee in Sweden, has been out for three months.
The temptation to sign Gigio grows in the Camp Nou offices, although everyone is aware that it is an operation that must be played on several bands and only with the certainty that it coincides with an important sale by Ter Stegen.