"Donnarumma is staying with Milan" says club CEO Fassone
Marco Fassone affirmed the club's stance with their keeper, who is on Madrid's radar: "He can leave on a free next year. Anyone who wants him must pay the asking price".
Gianluigi Donnarumma will continue at AC Milan next season, club CEO Marco Fassone, confirmed this afternoon. The 18-year-old goalkeeper decided last week to turn down Milan's offer of a new, improved contract and will be able to leave on a free in 2019. Real Madrid and Juventus are closely monitoring the youngster's situation - and both are deliberating whether to wait until next year when they can sign the keeper on a free transfer, or go ahead with the operation this summer.
Gigio Donnarumma is going nowhere, says Milan CEO
Fassone, speaking to the club's television channel, admitted that he perfectly understands why Donnarumma turned down Milan's offer of a new contract: “I kind of saw it coming and so it wasn’t exactly a bolt from the blue because for the last two months we could see a difference between what Raiola was telling me, and what Gigio has been telling me. I spoke to Gigio on the phone and he told me: ‘I want to stay at AC Milan. I don’t want to leave’. Railo kept on telling me that there was not enough time so I was also a little worried in case I got a negative response”..The Milan executive pointed out that the young keeper will be free to join the club of his choice next year, but the Italians hope they can at least coax him to sign a revised contract that wouldn't see Milan losing out, if he decides to leave. “It’s perfectly legitimate for a player to decide that he wants to leave his club at the end of his contract but legitimacy should always go hand in hand with ethics – that is essential in football", Fassone continued.Ç
Milan fans not happy with Donnarumma
"The fans are angry with Gigio because they perceived his perfectly legitimate decision to have been driven by economical and technical factors. What we shouldn’t do is force him into a corner. A release clause could be added and the contract could be extended. After that, the player could turn around and say to me: ‘I want to leave to start a new chapter in my career. I’m worth X amount of euros’. Everything would be written down in the new contract and if another club is willing to pay what the player is worth, he can leave happily; I would still be unhappy because I am losing the player but at least I would not be losing money on the deal. We don’t need other clubs throwing handouts of 15 or 20 million at Gigio because he is worth much more than that, regardless of the duration of his contract. But our project is clear – Donnarumma is staying here. If any club wants him, they will have to pay what he is worth, otherwise, Gigio is staying here for the whole of next season and during the following season, he will be free to make his own decisions”, Fassone concluded.
