In the 37th minute of Manchester City’s win over Villarreal on Tuesday night, Gianluigi Donnarumma was under pressure from Georges Mikautadze. With remarkable calm, he stroked the ball left-footed under the advancing striker’s attempted block and out to John Stones and safety.
It was the kind of move you’d associate with Ederson, the player he has replaced as City’s No 1. Was this evidence that the Italy No 1 is more than adept at playing out from the back with his feet, or a bit of luck?
Even taking into account Donnarumma’s seeming confidence on the ball, it is clear that this latest evolution of Guardiola’s City are adapting to having a man between the sticks who is heralded more for his shot-stopping ability than his skills as a sweeper-keeper.
Not that Ederson was poor at keeping the ball out of the net. The Brazil goalkeeper kept 168 clean sheets in 372 appearances, and was statistically the best shot-stopper in the Premier League last season according to the post-shot expected goals metric, preventing five goals relative to the quality of on-target shots he faced.
Ederson statistically over-performed in five of his eight Premier League seasons, and though he couldn’t match compatriot Alisson in that regard, it illustrates that City had a reliable goalkeeper who also brought singular ability in how he looked after possession at the back.
That, along with the fact that City re-signed James Trafford from Burnley earlier in the summer, meant that the move late in the window to sign Donnarumma caused some surprise. Here was a ‘keeper not known for his footwork.
Guardiola seems to have been happy to switch from having a No 1 more known for his ability on the ball to one who claimed the Yashin Trophy at the recent Ballon d’Or ceremony because of his goal-denying heroics in helping Paris Saint-Germain win the Champions League last season.
As Donnarumma has settled in, it has brought about an adaptation in how City plays, with 42 per cent of their passes from their goalkeeper going long in the Premier League this season.
That’s a jump from 30.5 per cent the season before, which suggests that this has been a factor in City adapting their play to Donnarumma. There are, though, two caveats: Trafford started the opening three games of the season and longer balls from the goalkeeper are part of a Premier League-wide trend.
Another difference is that the 26-year-old Italy international is right-footed, while Ederson prefers to play out with his left but could comfortably do both.
That has led, as the goal-kick distribution map below suggests, to Donnarumma’s goal kicks often going out to the left wing. Yet as the open play distribution map depicts, his passing in open play suggests a relative comfort with the ball.
There has been the odd rushed pass: in the recent win over Brentford, for example, one ball to Josko Gvardiol invited the opposition to press. But none of this has yet cost City.
Guardiola appears happy to offset ball-playing for more safety. And Donnarumma is bringing that: he has five clean sheets in eight appearances.
It is too early to break down the data on his saves at City, given such a small sample size, but the stop on his debut in the Manchester derby to deny Bryan Mbeumo a fine goal and United a route back into the game is already one for his highlight reel.
Of course, there are plenty in the catalogue for Donnarumma, who next week will mark 10 years as a senior professional. He made his debut at 16 years and 242 days for Milan in 2015 before moving to PSG in 2021.
In his four years in Paris, he prevented close to 22 goals relative to the quality of on-target shots he faced in Ligue 1 and the Champions League. That is a significant over-performance, which tells us that, over a long period of time, you can generally expect him to bail his team out.
That added safety can help City in their bid to win trophies again this season. It has already helped them to remain calm in a narrow win over Brentford and gave them the confidence to sit deep against Arsenal when leading, even if they ended up conceding a late equaliser.
“The saves he does for us are amazing, and it helps us a lot, it gives confidence to the team,” Tijjani Reijnders told reporters after Donnarumma kept a clean sheet against Napoli last month. “When you see him walking by, he’s just a giant.”
Donnarumma climbs above Nicolas Pepe to make a save against Villarreal (David Ramos/Getty Images)
Yet despite 32-year-old Ederson’s brilliance, it could be suggested City were more vulnerable. Last season, there were 10 occasions in which City conceded their first shot on target in a game in the Premier League and 12 times the campaign before.
Obviously, Premier League opponents are getting more lethal on the counter and not all were saveable for Ederson. The Brazilian also missed 10 games through injury last term.
But City now have a keeper who is bringing confidence to the back line again — much like when Ederson first arrived. They are unbeaten in the eight games in which Donnarumma has started. The Italian is already popular with his team-mates and is apparently close to Erling Haaland.
Donnarumma did not expect to leave PSG in the summer; he wanted to stay and discuss a contract extension with just a year left on his deal in Paris. The initial price of £40m quoted by PSG earlier in the summer was negotiated down to £26m by City, and the move was completed not long before the transfer deadline.
Donnarumma signed his five-year contract while away with Italy on international duty. He wanted to play for Guardiola as soon as he heard it was a possibility and is hungry to win trophies in another country.
He flew to Manchester on September 9, the day after Italy’s 5-4 win over Israel. It was just five days before City would take on United. On the Wednesday, he toured City’s training ground and the Etihad Stadium. He also held an hour-long meeting with Guardiola, with sporting director Hugo Viana present for part of the time.
It was after this meeting that the City boss felt he could throw Donnarumma straight into one of their biggest fixtures of the season. Their adaptation with their new goalkeeper was under way.
