Gianluigi Donnarumma will have a serious competitor for next season. Accustomed to guarding the PSG goal without trembling for his starting position under the orders of Luis Enrique, the Italian goalkeeper will see the arrival of the Russian Matveï Safonov, determined to take his starting place.
The former goalkeeper of Krasnodar, in the Russian championship, warned in a video interview with Russian journalist Nobel Arustamyan that he was ready to fight to be number 1 in the Parisian club. “Be PSG’s No. 2 goalkeeper? I do not understand that. No one ever told me I was number 2. I come to Paris to fight. Even if they had told me I was number 2, I wouldn’t have listened to them. It’s up to me to give the best of myself. I don’t see myself as a number 2. I don’t want to be a substitute,” said the 25-year-old goalkeeper.
“I can’t be a replacement”
“If they put me as number 2, it won’t be easy for number 1… I will fight with him constantly. I never lost my sense of competition. In Krasnodar, I have always been the number 1 goalkeeper,” he continued, already putting pressure on Gianluigi Donnarumma, never worried by Keylor Navas or Arnau Tenas last season.
The Russian international (14 caps) is counting on his experience in the selection to take his place in the Parisian cages: “I was a substitute during the first match, then I became number 1. I was always number 1 until ‘now. I can’t be a replacement. These are all prejudices. It doesn’t depend on where you come from… I understand. I am Russian and no one knows me here in France. Maybe they don’t plan to put me number 1 right away yet. But I believe in it. »
Gianluigi Donnarumma is warned. But the Italian is responding on the pitch for the moment by having an excellent Euro 2024.
