Donnarumma is the most anomalous keeper I've ever seen.

[OmarUnited4ever]

Donnaruma was the established No.1 GK at Milan since he was only 16 yo and he developed physically and mentally during those years to be one of Europe's top GKs, because he played with an underwhelming Milan side his entire career of 5/6 years, although very well known as a top GK in Europe, he was not in the spot light as much, this tournament made him now very well known and deservedly will make him be considered in the top 5 GKs in Europe.

But, he isn't special, not at all, Diego Lopez, he predecessor at Milan, was as stall and as athletic and as physically built as him, Oblak, although shorter, is very fast and very athletic as well, and let's not forget Neuer, probably the best GK of his generation, and still as of now the best GK in world football, almost as tall as Donnaruma and and very fast and agile.

 

[VorZakone]

Such a shame he'll be in Ligue 1 to be honest...would love to see him in the PL.

 

[DWelbz19]

Spot on, said earlier this summer that I have no clue why United weren't in for him, sell off De Gea and Henderson who are clearly not good enough.

He is a generational talent and already world-class.

Where the hell do you send De Gea? Just vanish him in thin air? He's the highest paid goalkeeper in football, and his stock is at the lowest it has ever been. Unless we were going to pay [at least] half of his salary, he was going nowhere.

Add to that Donnarumma is most likely on £200-300k p/w + his and Raiola's signing on fee, it just wouldn't have been financially viable.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Another thing about penalties, I think the stat is being mislabeled. The penalty save ratio isn't 68%, is the penalty conceded percentage. He's saves 33% of penalties, which is still really high but again not as insane as the 68% incorrectly bring mentioned.

EDIT: The most you can credit is 45%, which includes penalties missed as well and not only saved by the keeper.

Saving 1 in 3 is still incredible, I doubt any keeper gets close to that.

 

[AjaxCunian]

Where the hell do you send De Gea? Just vanish him in thin air? He's the highest paid goalkeeper in football, and his stock is at the lowest it has ever been. Unless we were going to pay [at least] half of his salary, he was going nowhere.

Add to that Donnarumma is most likely on £200-300k p/w + his and Raiola's signing on fee, it just wouldn't have been financially viable.

Even if you let him go for free, it would be worth it but probably not classy.

Would give him a sum of money indeed and just let him go, there is nothing we're getting out of him anymore.

 

[hasanejaz88]

Saving 1 in 3 is still incredible, I doubt any keeper gets close to that.

93rd percentile (from fbref). The highest is Lukas Hrdecky from Leverkusen (and Hertha before) with 67%

EDIT: The percentile is from last year.
EDIT again: Actually screw it those last year stats are weird. I can't compare players over all careers but will try to.

 

[Adam-Utd]

93rd percentile (from fbref). The highest is Lukas Hrdecky from Leverkusen (and Hertha before) with 67%

EDIT: The percentile is from last year.
EDIT again: Actually screw it those last year stats are weird. I can't compare players over all careers but will try to.

I would assume you'd have to have a minimum sample also - keepers that have only faced 3 penalties etc don't really count.

Anyway, all I know is he looks huge in goal and is definitely imposing, he wins the mental battle for sure.

 

[Brwned]

Still a very good stat

Absolutely, but not much different to his predecessor - Buffon saved 34 out of 111, Donnarumma saved 15 out of 44. There’s only 3% difference between them while the stat in the OP would have meant a 30% difference! And the exceptional penalty saving record was explained by his exceptional physique. When you put the full stats out there that narrative doesn’t really fit IMO.

 

[Godfather]

Absolutely, but not much different to his predecessor - Buffon saved 34 out of 111, Donnarumma saved 15 out of 44. There’s only 3% difference between them while the stat in the OP would have meant a 30% difference! And the exceptional penalty saving record was explained by his exceptional physique. When you put the full stats out there that narrative doesn’t really fit IMO.

Oh absolutely.

Still very impressed with him. Thought of him as being still a bit raw for some reason but he was outstanding in the tournament. Only one or two ocassions when he went out for crosses that he couldn't catch but apart from that very good overall gk performances that make me a bit jealous of PSG.

 

[Welbeckham]

I think Robert Sanchez of Brighton has similar qualities when it comes to huge size and athleticism.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

It’s his demeanour, looks completely calm and assured. Even when he saved the pen that won them the match he got up and had this blank, deadpan stare.

 

[Tom Cato]

He's great, but not anomalous. Being tall and strong is the norm for keepers. Jorge Campos was 1,68. Now THAT'S an anomaly.

Best striker of our generation

 

[Ali Dia]

I think it's scandalous that we seemingly weren't in for him this summer. On a free, and streets ahead of our current choices (obviously de gea at his best was superior)

I’d love to find the posters who were trying to call me out when I suggested we bin off the two lads and pay up for this lad around feb/march. We’d actually be saving money and we’d have the best keeper out there. Looked decent and calm with the ball at his feet too.

 

[Tom Cato]

For everyone who insists we should have brough Donnarumma here:

Are you A) aware why he left Milan on a free? B) Know who his agent is? C) Realize B is why A happened?

If you thought Pogbas situation was bad, why invite a new one.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Physically he sort of reminds me of another old Milan keeper, Dida.

Physically he reminds me of another Italian keeper ,that being Juve stopper Peruzzi.

 

[roonster09]

Saving 1 in 3 is still incredible, I doubt any keeper gets close to that.

Handa has 35% and Diego Alves has 40% save percentage.

 

[Mogget]

It's not really at all. Donnarumma is absolutely huge.

Just look at him next to Chiellini, he makes him look like a little brother.

As the OP said, it's no surprise he's so good at penalties. Rarely do you get that mixture of size and agility. He has cat like speed along with being a giant.

Courtois is taller and heavier. Why are people pretending Donnarumma is some sort of physical freak of nature, the likes of which we've never seen before?

 

[Adam-Utd]

Courtois is taller and heavier. Why are people pretending Donnarumma is some sort of physical freak of nature, the likes of which we've never seen before?

He just doesn't look it though? maybe because he's as agile as a falling tree perhaps.

 

[hmchan]

Tall keepers with long arms always have an advantage in goal. de Gea, Courtois also belong to the same category.

 

[Skorenzy]

Handa has 35% and Diego Alves has 40% save percentage.

At his peak he was insane.
A penalty against him was basically a 50/50.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Over a period of 10 years in Spain he faced 53 penalties (in all comps) :
- 25 were saved (47%)
- 26 were scored
- 2 were missed


This includes 3 saves out of 4 pens against Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga, one against Messi in a Copa del Rey semi-final, two saves in one game vs. Atléti (Griezmann and Gabi), a save against Bayern Munich in the CL (Mandzukic) and saves against Rakitic, Diego Costa, Vela, Llorente, etc.

 

[roonster09]

At his peak he was insane.
A penalty against him was basically a 50/50.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Over a period of 10 years in Spain he faced 53 penalties (in all comps) :
- 25 were saved (47%)
- 26 were scored
- 2 were missed


This includes 3 saves out of 4 pens against Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga, one against Messi in a Copa del Rey semi-final, two saves in one game vs. Atléti (Griezmann and Gabi), a save against Bayern Munich in the CL (Mandzukic) and saves against Rakitic, Diego Costa, Vela, Llorente, etc.

Yeah I remember those stats. He has close to 50% save rate which was just insane.

 

[Charlie Foley]

Aye, his record from penalties is good, but not that exceptionally impressive (15/44 saved for in-match penalties).

His record is extremely impressive. This was his record before the Spain match:

“Donnarumma's won every penalty shootout in his career and has the best save % of any keeper in Europe who's faced more than 20 penalties. (38.4%)”
I think he saved 1 of 4 vs Spain and 2 of 5 vs England. So 3/9, which would lower his percentage slightly, but still excellent: I have seen online he is in the 93rd percentile of penalty save % of all goalies.

this was written January 4:

“From his Serie A debut on 25 October 2015 to today, Gianluigi Donnarumma has conceded goals in 58% of the penalties he faced in Serie A (18 out of 31): the lowest percentage among goalkeepers with more than 10 shots”

 

[Charlie Foley]

Anyway, I found it hilarious seeing the contrast between T. rex arms, hair curtains flopping about, doing finger wag AND temple point on his first save, gurning on the second one, and then Donnarumma’s expressionless reaction to winning the tournament

 

[ThierryHenry14]

I think it's scandalous that we seemingly weren't in for him this summer. On a free, and streets ahead of our current choices (obviously de gea at his best was superior)

I am not sure if De Gea was superior. De Gea's reflex was good back then but that's it.

 

[harms]

Courtois is taller and heavier. Why are people pretending Donnarumma is some sort of physical freak of nature, the likes of which we've never seen before?

That’s the weird thing — Courtois somehow doesn’t look as intimidating, even though he is taller and he’s one of the most physically gifted keepers today.

 

[Acrobat7]

That’s the weird thing — Courtois somehow doesn’t look as intimidating, even though he is taller and he’s one of the most physically gifted keepers today.

Coutois is more „lanky“ (if that is a word) while Donnarumma looks like a unit. Builds vary a lot. Neuer for example is a really big guy (only 2 or 3cm shorter than Donnarumma) but since he moves very fluid for a keeper it doesn’t really show. Then he is standing next to Lewandowski and dwarfs him.

 

[C'mon FC]

His penalty saving rate is really impressive but I still see him behind Neuer, Oblak and ter Stegen because he has severe weaknesses off the line and furthermore his footballing skills are not that great either. On the line though an absolute machine.

 

[SATA]

He's going to take over as the world's best goalkeeper after Neuer retires. Giant of an athlete and a great talent

How's his sweeping up like? If he's good at that and improves somemore, could be one of the best of all time

 

[Sayros]

Crazy part is he's nowhere near his prime, still has tons of experience to earn, and this was his first major tournament as the starting GK. Nothing but money in the bank for his experience. He's also stepping up to a new level with PSG and competing for the champion's league. He just seems to be in his own world, free from any outside pressure, I'm not even sure he was keeping track of the penalties given he had zero reaction to winning the euro with his last stop on Saka. Not just a physical giant, but a mental one as well it seems.

 

[Eternitiy]

Anyway, I found it hilarious seeing the contrast between T. rex arms, hair curtains flopping about, doing finger wag AND temple point on his first save, gurning on the second one, and then Donnarumma’s expressionless reaction to winning the tournament

Pickford did himself proud and his save on Jorginho was one of the greatest penalty saves of all time.

However, Donnarumma's stoic reaction to winning the tournament for Italy will haunt me for all time. It was just surreal and made me feel very uncomfortable for some reason.

 

[passing-wind]

The biggest advantage about Donnarumma is not his athleticism that's being blown out of proportion, it's his temperance and mentality. He seems to be totally unfazed in pressure situations. Those are the qualities of the truly elite level of players they almost digest pressure whereas others crumble under it.

 

[Ramshock]

thought the OP spelled enormous wrong for a second there

 

[VorZakone]

The biggest advantage about Donnarumma is not his athleticism that's being blown out of proportion, it's his temperance and mentality. He seems to be totally unfazed in pressure situations. Those are the qualities of the truly elite level of players they almost digest pressure whereas others crumble under it.

Yeah, elite mentality. Italy are blessed to have him.

 

[Dan]

thought the OP spelled enormous wrong for a second there

I keep reading it as anonymous.

 

[Mcking]

At his peak he was insane.
A penalty against him was basically a 50/50.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Over a period of 10 years in Spain he faced 53 penalties (in all comps) :
- 25 were saved (47%)
- 26 were scored
- 2 were missed


This includes 3 saves out of 4 pens against Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga, one against Messi in a Copa del Rey semi-final, two saves in one game vs. Atléti (Griezmann and Gabi), a save against Bayern Munich in the CL (Mandzukic) and saves against Rakitic, Diego Costa, Vela, Llorente, etc.

Did Diego Alves move much on the line when facing penalties? Might help understand how he saved so many.

 

[Red&Black]

as a Milan fan, I can say this:

He is a truly remarkable keeper, with a dog feces mentality (cowers behind his agent).

He is also near horrific with his feet, misplaces passes on a fairly consistent basis, and flubs more than his share of crosses (inc one yesterday that nearly put england ahead)

He is a generational talent, no doubt. Might be the #1 in the game in a few years. But he left purely for the money - which I don't necessarily have a problem with - but he didn't even give Maldini or anyone in mgmt the heads-up... Again, let his agent find him the riches, and bailed. Which is why we pulled chute and worked in the background to sign another top class keeper in Maignan.

 

[Champagne Football]

I think it's scandalous that we seemingly weren't in for him this summer. On a free, and streets ahead of our current choices (obviously de gea at his best was superior)

No way we're ever dealing with Raiola again after the Pogba circus.

 

[Dave Smith]

I am thinking some people may think Insigne is average height then saw him next to Donarruma and got carried away. Donarruma has been good this tournament but I wouldn't say great. There were a number of times he played his team into trouble with his passing and came out and didn't get anywhere near the ball. He was just lucky in those instances the attack failed and/or he was bailed out by team mates.

 

[SirAF]

I’m a big fan, would have loved him at United.

 

[El-Manos]

A bit strange we didn’t throw our hat in the ring… I guess they really rate Henderson at United.