Pep Guardiola adds intrigue to Man City transfer interest in Gianluigi Donnarumma

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about the minimum he can accept from a goalkeeper in the modern game

Pep Guardiola with Donnarumma(Image: 2024 Soccrates Images B.V. )

It has been an intriguing summer in the Manchester City goalkeeping department. The transfer window could yet shut with all three of Pep Guardiola's options from last season being replaced, or with Ederson keeping hold of the No.1 spot for a ninth successive year.

Scott Carson left early in the summer, with Marcus Bettinelli replacing him in a straightforward swap of third goalkeepers. The next big move was the signing of James Trafford on a buyback clause from Burnley, beating Newcastle to a deal and setting Trafford up to provide fresh competition for Ederson and take the No.1 spot sooner rather than later.

The obvious loser in that was Stefan Ortega, who wasn't taken in the squad for the only pre-season friendly at Palermo with the expectation that he would be finding a new club. Trafford started that game and spoke of his desire to make himself City and England No.1 for the next decade.

Then came the real curveball, with Ederson - having rubbished talk of a move away this summer - suddenly the subject of strong interest from Galatasaray and City not denying interest in PSG's Gianluigi Donnarumma as a replacement. In some very unfortunate timing, Ederson came down with gastroenteritis in the minutes between Guardiola telling reporters he would start their opening Premier League game at Wolves and the team bus leaving for Molineux.

Trafford started in his absence, and looked good. Not only were there some smart saves to keep a clean sheet but there was also a lovely dinked ball up to Tijjani Reijnders to start City's third goal.

Ortega was on the bench, and Guardiola spoke afterwards about hopefully finding a solution for him but also reiterating that Ederson was his keeper as well. The links to Donnarumma have not gone away, yet an interview that has just been published with the manager from last week adds doubt either to the idea that City will move for the PSG keeper or the reputation of him for not being particularly good with his feet.

"I think what has evolved most in football since I was a player is the position of the goalkeeper. The training, the trainers, the methodology - how they train the keepers is outstanding," Guardiola told Men in Blazers.

"Before the keeper was saving and now they save and have to play. We play with 11 players. There are teams who use it more but it is part of the game.

"It's difficult for me to find one keeper that is not brave with their feet. It is so difficult to find. Now I'm not saying be like Ederson and have the ability to put the ball 60 yards in the pockets.

"He has an incredible ability to do that, and Stefan Ortega has this ability as well. But all of them have to be a minimum to play."

You could argue for that statement meaning City do want Donnarumma or they don't, and it only adds to the messy situation with less than two weeks of the window to go. As it stands, Ederson will be in goal for City against Spurs on Saturday - but that can't be said with much confidence given everything going on around it.

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