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Horncastle: Cheer up Milan fans, at least you have Donnarumma
Donnarumma is 6’4” and frankly he makes the goal seem tiny. Looking at his long, rangy arms hanging by his side as he waits for penalties to be taken, one can imagine that as the doubts gradually creep into the taker’s mind, the certainty also crystallises that Donnarumma could, if he so desired, touch both posts even from his position in the middle of his goal.
During Milan’s pre-season tour of the US last summer, Mihajlovic had looked on from the sidelines as Donnarumma made the Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos miss from the spot. Presumably this was a moment that planted the seed in Mihajlovic’s head from which the audacious idea of giving Donnarumma his competitive debut sprouted.
Upon reflection, the decision remains no less remarkable for its boldness. Diego Lopez had been one of the best goalkeepers in Serie A the year before. Widely recognised as one of the few Milan players to emerge with his dignity fully intact from a season in which the team had finished 10th and missed out on Europe yet again, we should also remember that the Spaniard joined the club after a season as Real Madrid’s first choice `keeper. The gamble Mihajlovic dared to make involved incurring the wrath of Lopez in order to make Donnarumma’s big future the present at Milan. Incidentally, Lopez refused to shake Mihajlovic’ hand when he returned to San Siro as Torino coach last weekend.
Mihajlovic stands vindicated, however, and must also be incredibly proud. He had made Donnarumma the youngest player to make their Serie A debut in goal since Gianluca Pacchiarotti in 1980. Donnarumma was 16 and eight months old but the differences with Pacchiarotti are several. To begin with, Pacchiarotti didn’t start for Pescara against Perugia all those years ago. He came on with 10 minutes to go and, sadly for him, it was to be his one and only appearance in Serie A. The only other reason Pacchiarotti is still remembered in Italy, aside from getting his short but sweet shot at the big time so young, is for conceding the first goal Diego Maradona scored for Napoli, a splendid bicycle kick in the Coppa Italia.
Doubtlessly, making your debut at the Renato Curi for a team that has already been relegated is one thing, taking your first bow at San Siro at a time of protest and crisis at Milan is another entirely. Not only did Donnarumma pass the test, he has been Milan’s undisputed No.1 ever since. “He’ll be our goalkeeper for next 20 years,” Silvio Berlusconi claimed and it’s Donnarumma’s nerve and composure that impress as much as his size and explosiveness. The sight of him dribbling under pressure at the Olimpico against Lazio and the J Stadium against Juventus quickly spring to mind.
Gigi Buffon sought out Donnarumma after that performance and swapped shirts with him. The pair will train together over the next fortnight at Coverciano, Italy’s Florentine training base. The writing appeared on the wall when Giampiero Ventura, Antonio Conte’s successor as Italy coach, visited Milanello last week. If Ventura’s mind wasn’t already made up, the three saves Donnarumma made from Dries Mertens in Naples on Saturday night probably did it for him. What Domenico Berardi has to do, on the other hand, to get a call up to the senior squad is a mystery. The Sassuolo striker has scored seven times already this season, but I digress. Donnarumma’s inclusion sees him take a pen and write another page in the record books.
A week after becoming the youngest `keeper to save a penalty in Serie A since Armando Fiorini in 1931, his call up to the Italy squad is the most precocious in 105 years. Astonishingly Donnarumma makes even Buffon look like a late bloomer. Ernesto Ferraro was the first to know ‘Gigione’ was destined for big things. “He was already getting carried away about Gigio when the boy was nine,” Ciro Amore, the president of Donnarumma’s first club ASD Napoli, told La Repubblica. Ferraro a talent scout with a trained eye for a goalkeeper. He’s now in his 70s but continues to know potential when he sees it. He discovered Gennaro Iezzo and Antonio Mirante, the current Bologna No.1, as well as Donnarumma’s older brother Antonio who is now with Asteras Tripolis.
“Ernesto always said Gigio would be a champion,” Amore recalled. Right from the moment he first saw the boy diving around in an oversized Dida shirt. Donnarumma was eight when Milan last won the Champions League in Athens. There wasn’t a particular game that made this impressionable Neapolitan decide to go over to their side and root for them instead of his hometown club. “I was born Milanista,” he claims. The fact they signed his brother as a junior only made his passion for red and black all the stronger. To be honest, Milan have Antonio to thank if Gigio is pulling on the gloves for them now.
Inter thought they had got their hands on Donnarumma. In the meantime, the 14-year-old Gigio was holding out for Milan and following a trial with their rivals, he asked his father to set up a meeting with Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani on the pretext that he wanted to talk about Antonio. Instead it was a ruse to get him to give Gigio a chance. The rest is history. Donnarumma can see himself spending his entire career at Milan. They’re his club. Others find it harder to imagine. After all, his agent is Mino Raiola who to be fair to him has at least promised that, were Donnarumma to leave in the future, it would not be to join another Italian club.
“My dream is to win the Scudetto and then hopefully lift the Champions League trophy,” Donnarumma told Sky. “As a Milan fan I have seen great players lift it and one day I would like to lift it too.” Careful Gigio. One step at a time. Not that baby steps are his thing. On the contrary, Donnarumma is making huge strides and continues to follow in the footsteps of a giant. Buffon believes he has still got another World Cup in him and is showing no signs of decline.
Donnarumma will have to wait his turn and look, listen and learn. Buffon, the master finally has a worthy apprentice. “The future is on his side,” Ventura says. “He could be Buffon’s heir. I certainly hope so both for him and the national team.” It remains to be seen whether he gets a run out in Italy’s friendly with France in Bari on Thursday. But as Mihajlovic said: “You didn’t need to see him save a penalty to understand Donnarumma is a phenomenon.”
@JamesHorncastle
