Rio Ferdinand laid into Gianluigi Donnarumma as Man Utd face transfer fight

Gianluigi Donnarumma has been linked with a move to Manchester United this summer, but the Italy international has been on the receiving end of criticism from Rio Ferdinand in the past

Rio Ferdinand’s scathing criticism of Gianluigi Donnarumma has re-emerged amid the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper’s potential switch to Manchester United this summer. The Red Devils are reportedly keen on snapping up the shot-stopper after a treble-winning campaign with PSG failed to convince manager Luis Enrique to keep him in his plans.

While Manchester City have reached personal terms with the Italy international, United have been urged to jump at the opportunity to land his signature with his price tag proving a sticking point for their neighbours. Despite the Italian being hailed as one of the finest goalkeepers on the planet, Ferdinand has previously slammed the United target for one of his Champions League performances.

During a quarter-final clash with Barcelona last year, the La Liga giants secured a 3-2 advantage over PSG to take into the return leg at the Camp Nou, with two of those strikes stemming from Donnarumma errors. He was unable to gather a ball whipped into his penalty area, allowing Raphinha to open the scoring.

READ MORE: Man Utd target Gianluigi Donnarumma’s ‘controversial £1m contract demand’ rubbished by clubREAD MORE: Man Utd can make ‘unbelievable’ signing but face major issue as transfer talks begin

The decisive goal arrived when Donnarumma remained on his line from a corner kick, which let Andreas Christensen head home the match-winner. Ferdinand expressed his frustration on TNT Sports, branding it a “crime” for the star to fail in preventing both strikes.

He said at the time: “Highlight the goalkeeper here. In the first half, the goalkeeper makes two mistakes from crosses. I think in his head he’s said, ‘I’m going to stay on my line no matter what now,’ and let the responsibility then fall on the defenders to defend this set piece.

“That’s in his six-yard box. He’s 6’7″ or so. That’s a crime almost, not coming in your six-yard box and claiming that. It wasn’t a ball that was too high. It was there to be attacked, but the impact of the first half mistakes lead to that. That’s a player at the top of his game that is having to adjust his approach to a certain set piece because of performance.”

Despite this previous criticism, Ferdinand has also recently praised Donnarumma ahead of his potential Premier League move. On his YouTube channel, the former United defender hailed the keeper as one of Europe’s finest, suggesting PSG’s desire to part ways with him is due to the changing nature of goalkeeping in football.

Ferdinand said: “Did you see the stuff about Donnarumma? Wow. One of arguably the best goalkeepers in Europe last year, wins a treble. What I’ll do is I’ll give you the quote from Enrique, which was brutal right?

“But I kind of like that. You know where you stand, but I don’t think Donnarumma would’ve loved it. But let’s do these quotes anyway. ‘Donnarumma is out of the squad as it’s my own decision. I am 100 per cent responsible.’

“He said, ‘I want a different type of goalkeeper, and I made this decision.’ Wow. Donnarumma is one of the best goalkeepers in the whole world. Just that little caveat to cap it off. One of the best keepers, but just not my type. Now, we would have never seen this 10 years ago.

“If you are the best goalkeeper in the world, the top club who’s winning everything at the time never sells you because you’re the best goalkeeper in the world. He might be the best goalkeeper in the world in terms of saving the ball and stuff to stop the ball going into the net, but is he good enough with his feet?

“I think that is the question, and this is just the ever-evolving kind of identity of a goalkeeper now is very different. I played with so many goalkeepers that could barely reach the halfway line. Couldn’t pick anyone out really on a consistent basis.

“Some could kick it far, but couldn’t really have the direction to pick people out. Nowadays, you’ve got to have like pinpoint accuracy, short and long, over varying distances to be able to understand how to play through the press. If it’s two people, three people, or one player pressing, like what’s going on behind that press?

“The goalkeepers now have got to see so much, they’re part of the 11 now. It used to be 10 players and the keeper; it’s very different now. So Donnarumma is living in a different world of goalkeepers, and I bet people like [Gianluigi] Buffon, Edwin van der Sar, [Peter] Schmeichel, the top goalkeepers of yesteryear are sitting there going, ‘Wow, not in my day, that would have never have happened.'”

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