When Gianluigi Donnarumma made his debut for AC Milan at just 16 years old, he was the most talked-about goalkeeper in the world.
However, since then, with Milan not consistently performing in neither the league nor European competitions, he has somewhat fallen under the radar.
Despite having an underperforming team, he has consistently exceeded expectations, proving himself to be one of the best young goalkeepers in the world.
In this tactical analysis, we will look at the Italian’s strengths as well as weaknesses, and whether he has improved on his weaknesses since his debut.
We will analyse the three main aspects of goalkeeping: shot-stopping, sweeping, and passing.
Where does Donnarumma rank amongst Europes best young goalkeepers?
Previously, we conducted a data analysis of the best under-23 goalkeepers within Europe’s top five leagues.
Donnarumma was highlighted as one of the top three contenders.
Not only was he in the top three, but he was also the most consistent across all areas.
As we can see from the above graph, Donnarumma was in the top four when it came to goal-preventing performances.
He has the same statistics as Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
Both saved 4.8 more goals than they were expecting to, meaning they overperformed massively.
