That truth on AC Milan’s negotiations to extend Gianluigi Donnarumma’s contract and the dirty tricks he and Mino Raiola used.
The Instagram post on Donnarumma’s account finally sealed a relationship that was “poisoned” from that summer day in 2017 when the Italian goalkeeper decided to renew his contract, mainly pushed by his family, and totally against the advice of his agent Mino Raiola who deserted the signing ceremony.
Donnarumma’s Instagram post is synthetic, written in elementary mode, without entering into the real details of the matter and skipping the great damage that is being done to the club he claims to support as a big fan. It is as if, during the divorce, the ex-wife had to say to the ex-husband, after having collected a substantial fortune, the classic phrase “I will continue to love you“. It is a perfidious deception and totally hypocritical.
On the other hand, the complete reconstruction of the whole negotiation process is more interesting and allows us to put an end to the story and understand the timing of the moves that have been made. Mino Raiola (who up to that point had never officially replied to Milan’s offer of 8 million net for 5 years) talks to Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici and agrees to bring Gianluigi Donanrumma to Torino on a free transfer and with a very rich salary for the player plus a huge commission.
When he realizes that Juventus would reappoint coach Allegri (who is asking for confirmation of Wojciech Szczesny) and has decided to liquidate Paratici, he is in a panic. First he writes to Juventus to let them know that Donnarumma would also accept the same salary he received at AC Milan (6 million). When Raiola receives the standard “Thanks, but we are not interested“, he contacts Maldini to re-open talks. Raiola proposes a two-year contract under the following conditions: 10 million net for two seasons for the player plus 20 million in commission for himself.
In essence, the agent’s reasoning is as follows: you wanted to invest 80 million on Gigio for 5 years, you can spend 60 million in two years, saving 20 with the possibility of selling him for a good amount. AC Milan’s response was made inevitable due to three key points: 1) in the meantime Milan had already booked Mike Maignan; 2) in the end the Rossoneri would have spent a total of 60 million to have Donnarumma for only two years; 3) which European club would have invested a substantial amount (let’s say 40-60 million) knowing that by June 2023, the Italian goalkeeper would be available for free again?
In short, it was just an attempt to buy time. Only then did PSG appear. That’s the whole story writes Franco Ordine. AC Milan, between one goalkeeper and another, lost in economic terms, Donnarumma earned a fortune but did not find the courage to explain his choice.
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