AC Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma to Juventus? He Couldn’t, Could He?

Over recent weeks, there has been an increasingly growing rumour that Juventus believe AC Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma is the ideal replacement for Gigi Buffon. The chatter is becoming impossible to ignore.

The current Bianconeri skipper has made no secret of the fact he intends to retire in two years’ time, hoping for a sixth trip to the game’s most prestigious tournament before finishing his career.

“I will try to make the next World Cup and then it may be time to close the door,” Buffon said at an awards ceremony back in January, per FourFourTwo. “It will almost certainly be at the end of the 2018 World Cup.”

Buffon has confirmed he will retire after the 2018 World Cup. What a career he has had… pic.twitter.com/tHR6S1Tidb

— TheFootballRepublic (@TheFootballRep) January 26, 2016

The gossip was fuelled by none other than Juve director general Beppe Marotta earlier this week, the official asked at a press conference about the eventual need to replace the club captain:

In the last 20 years, the Italy national team goalkeeper has always come from Juventus. I say this just to make it clear to you: there has been [Dino] Zoff, Buffon and… the history of Juventus is made up of champions and talented Italians.

Today we have Buffon and we’re keeping a tight hold on him as he is going to continue playing for us for a few years and he represents all the good things there are to talk about in football. Then we will look around and evaluate who to replace him with.

It’s certainly not going to be easy because replacing a player like Buffon is a difficult challenge, but Juventus’ ambitions are to find a worthy successor.

Donnarumma—who at just 17 years old has already made two appearances for the Italian national team—fits the bill. Since being handed his Serie A debut in October 2015, he has proved to be an incredible talent, one any team in the world would be confident in fielding between the posts.

A night to remember for 17-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma—the youngest goalkeeper in Italian football history 🇮🇹🙌 pic.twitter.com/dlH9sqib4w

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 1, 2016

He took over from Diego Lopez, with even the former Real Madrid man telling RAI Sport (h/t Forza Italian Football) that his teenage team-mate “is a great guy and is the future of Milan and Italian football.”

Prior to the current international break, Donnarumma had made 42 Serie A appearances for the Rossoneri, keeping an impressive 15 clean sheets. Even this season, with a much-improved Milan sitting third in the table, Fox Soccer’s statistics show only seven ‘keepers have made more saves than his current tally of 40.

Beyond the numbers, he has been a joy to watch. It is usually thought that players in his position get better with experience, yet he doesn’t celebrate his …

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