Paris Saint-Geermain face Milan tomorrow in the Champions League and one of the big stories is that Gianluigi Donnarumma will be playing against his boyhood club for the first time since he left.
The cousin of the late Mino Raiola – Enzo Raiola, was speaking to Tuttosport and shed some light on the exit of the Italian shot-stopper from Milan.
Raiola’s cousin and the goalkeeper’s agent spoke about how in the summer of 2021 Donnarumma was linked with a lot of clubs and was delaying any commitments on his future. He revealed that Milan didn’t want to wait for Donnarumma’s decision and in the end, they had to give him up and he was replaced with Mike Maignan.
He said: “This is the true story of Gianluigi: before the first renewal he could have gone to 4-5 very great teams, after four years those teams were no longer there while Milan still didn’t know where he would end up and, despite this, he he had made commitments to no one. We waited and waited and then Milan didn’t want to wait for him. This is the truth.”
Raiola added further details, saying that Mino Raiola had been in a meeting with Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara but the outcome wasn’t positive. Juventus were interested in the then 22-year-old but he would not play for another Serie A club, so PSG was the option that made the most sense.
“Maldini said: “Mino, we are here for something else. The Gianluigi chapter is already closed because we have already signed our goalkeeper”. A boulder fell on Donnarumma’s head. Juve would have only signed him at the end of the championship if Milan had not gone to the Champions League. We had not looked to leave in January and Donnarumma, in order not to betray Milan, had not even wanted to listen to an offer. And he, after what happened, told us “No, I don’t want to play in Italy anymore. I would have only gone to Juve if Milan hadn’t gone to the Champions League and they would have gained from my transfer, so now I don’t want to play in Italy anymore.” Believe me, we had absolutely nothing in our hands because everyone was settled, including PSG who had recently kept Keylor Navas.”
Now the two clubs will play each other in Europe’s biggest competition. Neither club has made the ideal start and Milan are still looking for their first win in their competition. Both clubs trail Newcastle, who have become the surprise early leaders in the ‘group of death’.
Japtej Ghura | GIFN
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