Everton are reportedly planning to raid Serie A underachievers AC Milan so is Gianluigi Donnarumma going to replace Jordan Pickford?
Top players don’t come cheap. Especially in this strangely dystopian, post-Neymar-to-PSG world.
With Everton forcing themselves into the frame to sign AC Milan’s contract rebel Gianluigi Donnarumma, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, the goalkeeper’s bargain £23 million price-tag feels like something of a red herring.
With just one year remaining on the 21-year-old’s contract, and with the prospect of fresh terms looking like nothing more than a pipe dream as it stands, Milan may be forced to sell one of the world’s next footballing superstars for a fraction of his market value.
For £23 million, Donnarumma is nothing short of a no-brainer for an Everton side who may have grown a little tired with Jordan ‘butterfingers’ Pickford in recent months.
But it won’t be as easy as just handing over the fee to Milan and celebrating a job well done. Everton must find a way to fund his massive wage demands, which may provide its own set of challenges.
Donnarumma currently earns a staggering £200,000-a-week at the San Siro, according to ESPN. Such a sum dwarfs the amount taken home by Everton’s top earners, with Spotrac claiming that both Bernard and Yerry Mina are currently being paid a relatively paltry £120,000-a-week.
Signing a goalkeeper with the potential, the prestige and the reputation of Donnarumma would obviously represent a sizeable coup for an Everton side with dreams of grandeur.
But footballers are competitive beasts. How would the Goodison Park dressing room deal with a player arriving and immediately becoming the club’s top earner by at least £80,000 a week?
Donnarumma would be under pressure to perform immediately, not just from the fans but from his own teammates, too.
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