Manchester City Reunites with Gerónimo Rulli to Replace Trafford

Manchester City have dipped into the past to solve a present problem. According to The Athletic, the Premier League champions have agreed a €2m fee with Marseille to bring back Gerónimo Rulli, almost a decade after he first passed through the club without playing a single minute.

This time, the 34-year-old Argentina international arrives with a clear purpose: steady, experienced cover after James Trafford’s big-money exit to Leeds United.

From unused asset to trusted deputy

Rulli’s first spell at City in 2016 was little more than a line on a balance sheet. Signed from Deportivo Maldonado, he never made a senior appearance before being moved on permanently to Real Sociedad. He was a prospect then, a piece in a wider network of deals.

Now he returns as something very different: a World Cup squad member, a veteran of European football, and a goalkeeper trusted to slot into one of the most demanding build-up structures in the game.

City’s move comes in direct response to Trafford’s decision to leave. The England goalkeeper, sold to Leeds for £45m, pushed for regular Premier League minutes after finding his path blocked. Gianluigi Donnarumma’s arrival last summer changed the landscape; Trafford, despite playing his part in FA Cup and Carabao Cup triumphs, saw the starting role drifting out of reach.

The club’s answer is pragmatic. Low cost. High experience. Minimal disruption.

A profile built for Maresca’s City

Inside the Etihad, Rulli is viewed as the ideal understudy: calm with the ball, comfortable playing high, and technically secure enough to keep City’s possession game ticking from the back when called upon.

His last two seasons at Marseille, where he made 73 appearances, sharpened that profile. He operated in a side that asked its goalkeeper to initiate attacks as much as prevent them, a template that fits neatly with Enzo Maresca’s demands.

Rulli also arrives with a layer of pedigree that numbers alone don’t show. He was part of Argentina’s 2026 World Cup squad, training in one of the most intense national-team environments in the sport. That experience, those standards, now drop into a City dressing room already packed with serial winners.

He will also find a familiar accent on the training pitch. The Argentine will work under former City goalkeeper Willy Caballero, now part of Maresca’s coaching staff. Caballero knows exactly what this role looks like: a reliable No 2, ready on short notice, trusted in big moments, and vital in the dressing room even when not on the teamsheet.

A reshaped goalkeeping department

Rulli’s arrival continues a quiet but deliberate reshaping of City’s goalkeeping group. The club have already re-signed Pierce Charles from Sheffield Wednesday, immediately sending him on loan to QPR to gain senior experience. It is a classic City move: stock the pathway, control the development, and keep options open.

Rulli, though, is for the here and now. A €2m fee for a goalkeeper with his résumé is the kind of low-risk, high-utility deal that allows City to focus their major spending elsewhere.

And they may need that flexibility. The Athletic reports that City are braced for potential exits, with Rodri linked to Barcelona and interest building around Savinho and Tijjani Reijnders. Those are the kinds of decisions that shape a title defence, not the identity of the second-choice goalkeeper.

Yet stability in the background matters. Especially when the noise around the squad starts to rise.

Timing, tours and first impressions

Rulli is scheduled to join up with the squad once they return from their pre-season tour of Hong Kong and South Korea next week. The timing is tight but deliberate.

Players who went deep into the World Cup are due to report for their first session under Maresca on Wednesday, with an open training session set for Thursday. That window gives the new manager a brief but important period to imprint his ideas with something close to a full group.

For Rulli, it is a crash course. New manager, familiar club, familiar expectations: adapt quickly, understand the patterns, be ready when the call comes.

City do not sign a 34-year-old goalkeeper for a long-term project. They sign him to remove doubt. To ensure that if Donnarumma is absent, the system doesn’t creak. To give Maresca one less headache in a season that could yet bring major changes elsewhere in the squad.

Rulli once passed through Manchester City without leaving a mark. This time, his job is simple: make sure nobody notices the transition at all.