Manchester City are currently trying to sign Gianluigi Donnarumma, a player whose idol the Citizens tried to sign in the late 2000s.
Manchester City may have made a multitude of signings already this summer, including in goal, but they are now looking at the possibility of signing one of the best of his generation.
It has been reported that Man City have opened talks to sign Donnarumma, who only has 11 months left on his PSG deal and is currently set for free agency in June 2026.
Furthermore, Footmercato believe the Italian is ‘very interested’ in a move to City and an agreement over personal terms would not be an issue.
Signing Donnarumma would be especially big for City considering they tried hard to sign his predecessor in the Azzurri squad, only to fall short.
Gianluigi Buffon said Manchester City made him ‘very big offer’
In the early days of the Abu Dhabi United Group’s tenure at Man City, the new club owners had their eyes on Gianluigi Buffon.
As per an article in The Guardian back in January 2009, Buffon was in City’s sights along with the likes of Thierry Henry and David Villa.
In the following years, more details would emerge around City’s attempt to sign Buffon from the player himself.
Buffon told Rio Ferdinand on TNT Sports in 2019: “I later had a very big offer from Manchester City, when they started to build the team and become the most important side in Europe.
“They wanted me to be the first signing, but I stayed at Juve.”
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Mark Bowen’s in-depth account of the Gianluigi Buffon talks
Mark Bowen, Mark Hughes’ former assistant at Man City, went into further detail about the talks between the club and Buffon in an interview with Business of Sport in 2024.
“We actually flew by private jet to Turin to speak to Buffon. Garry Cook, Mark and myself,” said Bowen.
“The plane lands, Buffon comes in with his agent. We sat down, Garry offered him I think it’s around about 400 grand a week.
“We shook hands on everything. Literally an hour later, we jumped back on the plane from Turin to fly back.
“We got off the plane and as we get into the terminal, Garry Cook’s looked at his phone and he’s gone ‘Jesus Christ’.
“What’s that Garry? He said: ‘The player’s turned around and said no, he thought about it. Sorry. I can’t move, this is my club, my boyhood club. I’m staying here.’
“We’re thinking, right, so we’ve just flown six hours – three there, three back – and we’ve offered him 400 grand.
“He shook hands on the deal and by the time we got off the plane he’s gone ‘I’m not coming’.
“Mark [Hughes] is looking at me going ‘this is madness’.”
Donnarumma, who used to have posters of Buffon on his bedroom wall, has proven to be a worthy successor to Gigi.
Now, City will hope to succeed where they previously failed when it comes to signing Italy’s top goalkeeper.
