Verratti confirms Donnarumma has left Milan to join PSG

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 9 Jul 2021 14:05 BST
• 3 min read

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti has apparently confirmed the club’s signing of Milan shot-stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The Italian goalkeeper has long since been reported as PSG’s latest signing, after it became clear that he would not be signing a new deal with Milan at the end of the previous season.

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Despite reported interest from Manchester United and Chelsea, reports in Italy and France have suggested that Donnarumma has all but agreed a move to the Parisian club and that it will be announced after Euro 2020.

However, Verratti clearly didn’t get the memo and in a press conference ahead of Italy’s final against England, the midfielder celebrated the move and said he was looking forward to playing alongside the towering keeper in France next season.

“He deserves to join a big club that has the ambition to win the Champions League,” said the 28-year-old midfielder when asked about Donnarumma’s proposed move.

“I am happy to have Donnarumma as a new teammate at PSG, he will help us a lot."

Why is Donnarumma moving to PSG?

While there’s no doubt that Donnarumma is one of the best goalkeepers in European football and as such a wealthy club like PSG have every right to sign him, there are still some concerns over how much game time he’ll get next season.

Not only do PSG already have seven first team goalkeepers in their squad for next season, but some of them are genuinely top-class players.

Last season Alphonse Areola proved at Fulham that he is undoubtedly a keeper that can play at Premier League level and Keylor Navas has for some time been more than good enough to stand between the posts for the Ligue 1 giants.

Assuming Donnarumma does arrive at PSG on a huge contract, there may be some obligation to play the former Milan shot stopper from day one but that may upset the apple cart along the way.