Gianluigi Donnarumma is a Champions League finalist, and Zvonimir Boban weighed in on how AC Milan fans might feel about him.
Donnarumma’s exit in the summer of 2021 left a bitter taste in the mouths of many as he departed the club where he came through to academy to join Paris Saint-Germain. He did so on a free transfer too, meaning Milan got nothing, and they signed Mike Maignan as his replacement.
Any questions about how the Rossoneri fans felt were loudly answered when he returned to San Siro last season, as Milan beat PSG 2-1 in the Champions League. He was jeered loudly when his name was read, insults and chants were aimed at him while fake money with his face on rained down.
Boban was a pundit on Sky during the second leg win against Arsenal last night and he was asked about his exit from Milan four years ago, with his comments relayed by MilanPress.
“Gigio has a very painful and also very undignified story. I don’t know if Donnarumma is still a Milan fan in the eyes of Milan fans,” he said.
“I don’t want to put the blame on a boy who was twenty when he left, but you think about it too, you think about your club and those colours you wore for so many years, the colours of a club where you were formed. Leaving like this was almost unforgivable for me.
“That said, Donnarumma is a phenomenon and has always been predestined. It’s nice to see him save like this, he’s part of the great Italian world cup successes. He’s a phenomenal goalkeeper and we hope he continues like this.”
What Italian World Cup succes has he been a part of? Is this a troll? Italy hasn’t even made the World Cup since 2014 😂
Yeah it should be Euro 2020
I honestly feel if he wanted to stay, he would have stayed, but Minor Raiola engineered his departure because of the huge commission he got, if you look closely at the club, their are several youngsters like Torriani, Rayverre , Longoni and Nava, who could be really good GK’s for the future, even Devis Vazquez is a very good keeper, so him leaving was not really too bad.
Gigio was awesome again yesterday.
He’d always be a Milan fan. He says that in every interview, he is asked about Milan.
Also, he has never said one bad word about Milan even though he has been constantly insulted by fans and media. The media created such a narrative against Gigio that he was booed, whistled and insulted in San Siro playing for Italy just a few months after he singlehandedly won Italy the Euro.
His action speaks louder than his words of love for AC Milan as he ended up costing the club a lot of potential cash after the club made him a very well paid player at the age of 17 earning 7 mil euros pr. year and even made him a constant fixture since the age of 16 and you wonder why some Milan fans thinks he is an ingrate traitor is particular surprising ?
Ingrate traitor?
Nice choice of words for a person that hasn’t done anything Illegal or immortal.
Funny how the player that did things that are illegal and immortal which had him suspended for a year is getting worshiped but Gigio is getting insulted.
Who did he betray?
He didn’t do anything illegal or immortal. Just because Milan had an incompetent director, let’s vilify the player. He didn’t lie to Milan. He was rated as one of the best GK ers in the world and he wanted to get paid as such. He and his agent were asking for that salary the whole time.
Gigio or any player doesn’t owe his club anything more than to perform to the best of his abilities for the time he is under contract with the club. Gigio did that.
It’s business, stop taking it so personal and so emotional where you even call a player ingrate traitor.
Doesn’t matter if it was illegal or not the club made him a starter at the age of 16 and the highest paid player at the age of 17 so obviously him showing disregard for the club he represented will be considered a traitorous move by many fans.
His loyalty was towards Raiola and his wallet never AC Milan hence why Milan fans was furious with the player as they expected more loyalty.
Nowadays I really don’t give a damn that he left so its not really an emotional response as I wouldn’t even want him back at the club.
More emotional mumbo jumbo.
Sinisa Mihajlovic made him a starter at 16, not the club. If it was up to the club they probably would have signed some old GK to play instead of Gigio, but Sinisa had the cojones to play the kid.
The player returned that trust by becoming one of the best GKers in the world at Milan. Just because the management missmanaged his contract situation doesn’t make him a traitor. He didn’t go to inter or Juventus. He went to a club in another country for the money he thought he was worth.
Also, Gigio didn’t come out of nowhere. Milan didn’t make Gigio. Gigio was one of the biggest talents when Milan signed him at 13 by offering more money than Inter and Juventus. This was not a Camarda situation.
If Milan had Mihajlovic as a coach, Camarda would probably been a starter this season instead of wasting money on Gimenez.
Emotional mumbo jumbo, really 😀 the only one here getting emotional here seems to be you who by any means will try to defend him while speculating on this and that.
Ha ha 😂.
You called the man ingrate traitor and you are talking about loyalty in business but you are calling me emotional?
As I said, football is a business. Being a footballer is a job. You are taking the business of football personal and react emotionally.
While I see it for what it is. Gigio or any player doesn’t owe any club anything more than to do his job to the best of his abilities for the time he is being paid. But I’m getting emotional? 😂
It’s OK.
That has nothing to do with being emotional its a simple statement that he lacked loyalty towards the club, simple as that and you are actually the one who starts calling anyone emotional so just quit it.
Everybody settle down. I think both sides have valid points. In the end however, it’s difficult to blame the players. Don’t get me wrong, I’m disappointed by the form of the exit. At the same time, the club could very well have met his demands, signed the extension and then sold him right away in the summer. These “gentlemen’s agreements” happen all the time. Why did the club not do that? Then from the player’s side, could he have accepted the club’s offer and then done the same? Being that they were negotiating in the spring, an extension just for the purposes of being able to receive a transfer fee that summer would have A. cost the club a few hundred thousand more per month if they’d met the player’s demands or B. earned the player a few hundred thousand less per month if he had accepted the club’s best offer. So in the end the number would have been trivial, because the signature would have come at late as May 2001, then the sale would have happened in July 2001. See below for a recap, with a quote by Enzo Raiola stating they were talking until May 2. Indeed, it looks like it was the club that decided to walk away, in the end, despite the fact that they would have basically had to pay just two months of wages at the new contract rate, because they could have sold him in July. It’s that simple. Yes, the player’s demand for 8M or whatever it was to extend (and presumably stay for a few more seasons) was high, given all the club had done, but it’s also his right to demand value for quality. You can love something or someone, but you should always get valued to your worth. The club could just as easily accepted the demand, paid the higher rate for a month or two to conclude the 2020-2021 season, and then sold, even if it had been a “forced sale” because the contract was too high long term, but then not forced at all, because you’re getting a fee where otherwise you’d get none. For some reason, the club just could not wrap its head around this possibility. Hubris perhaps?
cbssports.com/soccer/news/gianluigi-donnarummas-return-to-face-ac-milan-why-italian-fans-still-hold-a-grudge-against-the-psg-keeper/
Vero I’m by no means aggravated and I do aknowledge your points as well which also are a reasonable way to percieve things. There is a but though and that is that the player and the agent would also have had to be paid sign on fees on top of that and I recall that there was a very low minimum fee release clause demanded according to a previous interview so basically the club was held hostage both in moving forward with a new goalie or accept the offer of him staying and potentially risk losing him out of the blue for basically nothing compared to salary and sign on fees it didn’t make a lot of sense to continue the relationship.
Personally I don’t care for Donnarumma but I most definitely think he got a well deserved response from a lot of the Milan supporters as regardless of his huge talent wouldn’t have gotten the same chances many places elsewhere so I absolutely think he should be in gratitude towards and if leaving the club acted accordingly to that.
Martin, yes, I am not saying the player and his agent are blameless. I was trying to find a middle ground in what is a more complicated situation than what some people make it out to be. It’s clear that Raiola was, and his successors are, difficult to deal with. I think that being 20 years old, having so much pressure fans, exposure as a talent, and pressure from your agent is not an easy thing to deal with. Agents are definitely a problem, and FIFA ought to regulate their compensation. To be clear, I’m disappointed in Donnarumma and he’s not going to be in my pantheon of Milan heroes, but I’m also not going to expend any additional emotional energy being angry at an individual player when there are larger systemic issues with football.
More than fair to take that stance and I generally doesn’t look at things as only black and white and I definitely also believe that Donnarumma was under a pressure from various sides at the time. When that is said he was already paid more than well considering his age and position as not many goalkeepers will ever earn 7 mil pr. year so I think he could at least have signed a contract and maybe have demanded a 30-40 mil release clause which shouldn’t have been difficult to meet if he actually wanted to leave.
Yes agents is a huge issue of the sport and I believe it was in the UEFA/FIFA’s plans that they shouldn’t be able to attain more than 10% of a deal but not sure if that was down voted or whatever happened there.
He was on Leao money 10 years ago, and didn’t get much more from PSG, you want to blame someone go blame Maldini, because both he and Elliott didn’t think he was worth it
Why would I blame Maldini when he had to juggle within the wage limits set by the ownership. If the player actually loved the club as much as he keeps professing then he should also had understood the financial limitations of the club and stopped dragging things out until the management had to move for other players while they could.
Donnarumma cant have it both ways.
You think that Maldini did not have a better offer as a player? Yes, he had from Real, MU… but he did not wanted to leave ACM. That is why Maldini is legend and Gigio will be only one of the many GK. As simple as that!
Most of the time, it seems you’re commenting just to antagonize others. You should get out of the house more often, Z bro. lol
He is a great goalkeeper undoubtedly, but I don’t regret his departure.
We won a scudetto without him and could have build up on that, but our visionary management had other plans and decided that it’s better to watch others play a UCL final while being 9th and “sustainable”.
In the end we lost many great players before Donnarumma and under “good” managements (Vieira, Davids, Pirlo,…) and we will still lose great players in the future, that’s just how it is.
Not that I disagree with the overall comment by you but Viera only played 2 matches for us if my memory currently serves me right. Davids was a big bust for us as well even though a great player for Juventus.
Donnarumma on the other hand probably played roughly 150-200 matches for us already at the age of 20 and was the highest paid player for the club at the age of 17 and then basically held the club at ransom until the management got tired of his bs. Huge difference in my book and I’ll put it this way his allegiance was never with AC Milan But with Mino Raiola and his wallet.
Great player nevertheless but a questionable character in regard of loyalty towards the club he keeps professing his love for.
I don’t regret his departure nor I want him back because a goalkeeper should never be paid the money he gets paid. I regret that his departure was for free.
We are talking about the way he has been treated by the media and the fans.
I wanted him sold just like i want Maignan sold. You can find a goalkeeper who will do the same thing for a fraction of the cost. Just kook at inter. Their GK cost them 6 mil after they sold Onana for 60m , who they signed for free.
You should never lose players for free and that’s on management not on the players.
“We are talking about the way he has been treated by the media and the fans.”
He is considered a “traitor” because he capitulated to Raiola and wanted money while pretending that he only cares about the club. If he really wanted to stay whatever the cost, he could have man up, accepted to renew with the same money but he choose to obey Raiola. He was the highest paid player at that time and even more paid that any of our current players. And it’s easy to say that you’re a Milan fan and that you like Milan while playing elsewhere.
As for losing players for free, I’m not disagreeing that it’s on the management (most of the time, not always) and we should generally avoid such outcomes, but they are always going to happen. You can’t keep every player and some will leave for free.
You mentioned Inter, that same Inter lost Škriniar, their best defender at that time for free to PSG, who also lost Mbappé, one of the best players in the world for free to Real Madrid, a team full of left wingers.
Inter and PSG lost Skriniar and Mbappe for free because their management missmanaged their contract situation.
Skriniar wanted to go to PSG the summer before but Inter asked for too much money and lost him for nothing a year later.
Same situation with PSG and Mbappe.
But emotional fans call players traitors for club management bad decisions.
Same situation with Mbappe, really ? :D.
Mbappe renewed his contract initially as he didnt want to leave the club at free but PSG still ran the contract down to its end. Mbappe actually showed great integrity and character by that action of his.
@Martin Bernhard: I didn’t say Mbappé and Donnarumma were the same case, I just mentioned Mbappé because he, like Donnarumma, left for free.
Sorry Giga94 I got that and probably should have made it clear it was a reply to Z’s last comment but Mbappe actually did show some class towards PSG as he renewed his contract and gave them the option to at least capitalize on that if they wanted.
Its not about how much Dollaruma is worth, any player can ask for whatever money and go anywhere to get such money, but at least show some respect, don’t be an ingrate, again at the very least Milan deserve to get something from Donaruma’s sale. A free transfer is lack of respect, and no love for the club you claimed to be a fan
Players don’t always leave or get sold because of contract issues. Vieira and Davids were just not working out for us, and they moved on and then they came good. Good for them. Pirlo left at 30, after winning a lot with us, because the infallible Berlusconi and Galliani decided he wasn’t worth the extension. That was a technical choice, and a bad one.
But it also goes both ways. The same Pirlo joined us from Inter, of all places, after they decided he was expendable. Same for Seedorf, who had arguably shown more than Pirlo at the point that he joined. Inzaghi from Juventus is another, and his record was even better than the other two at the time of his move. These are just some example, never mind all of the players who refused extensions or demanded moves to join us throughout history. What about their prior clubs and fans? It’s a two way street.
That’s kind of my point…
I’m not saying we should have kept Vieira or Davids, but sometimes posters here (especially a certain Como fan) tend to lament over players who left us and became better and blame the management for it while forgetting that players leave for many different reasons and end up better/worse.
In the end, even with a “perfect” management, we will still see players leave for free or improve as they leave, just as we can land on some gems that their former clubs didn’t appreciate.
Italy won the euro as a team, what are you talking about?
It is a shame we couldn’t convince him to stay.
From a list management perspective. Having a world class GK who is also able to occupy an Academy list spot…
That’s a big advantage in European competition.
Donnarumma was on Leao money nearly 10 years ago. Maldini and Elliott Management both didn’t see it as worth it for what he wanted at the time(10-12m a season)
why maldini and not massara also? he never have the power to control the budget.. he even got sacked for asking bigger budget and more control over player management.
Let’s be honest, it’s not like he was irreplaceable, especially with how poor his feet are. He’s certainly stepped it up this year but let’s not forget how long it’s been since he’s even been considered at Mike’s level. We also have Torriani now, who can easily do the same he did. No use living in the past when we immediately already replaced him. Be more worried about the fact we’ve never even gotten close to replacing Kessie and Tonali