Liverpool should do all they can to sign Gianluigi Donnarumma
For those who don’t know, the relationship between AC Milan’s fans and the club’s teenage goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma isn’t exactly a smooth one.
In fact, the Milan supporters recently unveiled a banner which read “Psychological violence worth €6m a year, and the signing of your parasite brother? It’s time to leave – our patience is over.”
The banner was in response to reports that the youngster only singed a four-year contract extension with the Serie A giants as he felt pressured to do so and that his lawyers have written to Milan to try to get his deal to be invalidated.
In truth, it looks like the player has been pretty poorly advised and that his representatives, led by Mino Raiola, are doing whatever they can to get him a big money move.
Whilst the player himself hasn’t come out publicly and asked for a transfer, it looks like the ill-feeling between him and the fans could see Milan reluctantly deciding to let him go and that’s where Liverpool should jump in.
Yes, it wouldn’t be the cleanest transfer ever and dealing with Raiola would not be at all easy, however, the player himself is too good to ignore.
The teenager, who made his Milan debut aged 16 years and 242 days old, has everything a modern goalkeeper needs, something that can’t be said of Liverpool’s current options.
I’ve never really been keen on Loris Karius after the poor start to his career whilst Simon Mignolet is decent, but not good enough for a side who wants to be regularly winning things.
As Man United have found since they signed David de Gea, getting in a high-class, young goalkeeper can pretty much solve any issues you have in that department for a long time, provided you can get him to stay at the club long enough!
Now, if Liverpool were to go in for Donnarumma, it would cost them a significant fee but it would also simply irradiate the worries about the goalkeeper position for over a decade, provided he plays to the high standards that he’s set himself.
It’s very rare that such good players become available and whilst Milan are still saying publicly that they back the teenager, the ill feeling from the supporters could lead to them softening their stance.
Often in the past, other clubs have taken advantage of odd situations where top players have become available, and the Reds have been left behind.
As it stands, Milan don’t look in any rush to let Donnarumma leave but his team are apparently doing all they can to get him a transfer and if they are successful, the first people on the phone to AC Milan should be Liverpool, in fact, they should already be on the phone (secretly, of course!) to his agents declaring an interest.
It’s not the ethical thing to do but all football transfers are a bit dodgy and whilst doing the ‘right’ thing is admirable, it’s also a bit naive.
Donnarumma is too good a prospect to waste time doing things morally, Liverpool need him and as such, need to do whatever it takes to get him.
Having said that, unlike in the case of their pursuit of Virgil van Dijk, they might want to do a better job of keeping quiet regarding any unauthorised contact!