PROFILE | Back to the Future for Gianluigi Donnarumma at PSG | OneFootball

For Gianluigi Donnarumma, 2024 was a year in which accepted truths were called into question, and certainly not in a good way. Having broken into the AC Milan team as a teenager and played a pivotal role in Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph, he has long since been considered an elite-level goalkeeper, and since Keylor Navas’ departure, he has been the uncontested No.1 at PSG. The Italian is no longer held in the same esteem and his place between the sticks for Les Parisiens is no longer guaranteed.

Donnarumma’s deficiencies in possession are nothing new and have been exposed repeatedly on the European stage. That has happened with increasing regularity under Luis Enrique, who insists on his goalkeeper being involved in build-up play from the back. It led to PSG recruiting Matvei Safonov in the summer for €20m. At such a price, it didn’t look like the Russian was being bought as a backup option and his comments upon arrival mirrored that perception.

“Luís Campos never said that I was the No.2. I don’t see myself as a No.2. I don’t want to be a substitute. If they make me the No.2, things won’t be easy for the No.1 […] maybe they don’t have the intention of making me No.1 straight away, but I believe that I will [become that],” he said.

Safonov – Navas 2.0

Ultimately, with Donnarumma continuing to be the weak link in this PSG side, especially in the Champions League, Safonov has not needed to push too hard to stake a claim for the No.1 jersey. The Russian is featuring increasingly prominently, especially in Europe. The tide is turning and it is a mere reflection of Donnarumma’s changing status, not only at PSG. He is once again in a situation where he is not the out-and-out No.1 at club level and it is a return to the time where he was forced to compete with Navas. That was a situation that Donnarumma openly disliked but it is his own regression that has created a near-identifical situation just two years on.

2025 has the feeling of the pivotal year in Donnarumma’s career. It is one where he must, primarily, change perceptions at PSG and make significant strides in improving the weaker elements of his game. Should he fail to do so, the Italian’s future at the Parc des Princes may be called into question and with it his reputation, forged in his teenage years. For now, that promise is going to waste.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle