Ask Pep Guardiola what Gianluigi Donnarumma has given Manchester City and the Catalan can bristle. Not because he is reluctant to praise his new goalkeeper, but because he was so fond of his predecessor. “Never, never, never will I compliment Donnarumma [while] disrespecting the most important keeper that we’ve had in this club in 10 years,” he said a couple of weeks ago.
Ederson felt the closest thing to a soulmate that Guardiola could find in gloves. Donnarumma, the shot-stopper supreme, can appear on the other side of goalkeeping’s ideological divide. Maybe Josko Gvardiol lacked Guardiola’s sense of diplomacy, however, by displaying a greater willingness to celebrate the summer signing. What, the defender was asked, was it like with Donnarumma in goal? “It’s much easier,” he said.
