Gianluigi Donnarumma was smiling as he said it. It would be best, he suggested, if his mother stays away from Manchester City against Napoli. “My mum is a bit in trouble,” he said. A huge fan of the Serie A champions, her loyalties could be divided. So, perhaps, in future, could those of his young son, Leo. “I think he is going to be a true Neapolitan,” said Donnarumma. The captain of Italy grew up idolising Gianluigi Buffon and was a prodigy of AC Milan, but he hails from Castellammare di Stabia, on the Gulf of Naples.
The temptation is to assume that the less picturesque parts of Manchester could come as a culture shock to City’s latest signing. For now, though, he exudes happiness. “It’s an honour and a pride to be here,” said a man who traded the Champions League winners, in Paris Saint-Germain, for a club who limped out of the competition without reaching the last 16 a few months ago. Donnarumma debuted in a Manchester derby with a win, a clean sheet, a knee slide when City scored their third goal and the congratulations of Erling Haaland, who had run much of the length of the pitch, for a stunning save from Bryan Mbeumo.
