Manchester City Sign Geronimo Rulli as Goalkeeping Cover for Donnarumma

Manchester City have turned to a familiar name to reinforce their goalkeeping department, agreeing a £1.7m deal with Marseille for Argentina international Geronimo Rulli.

The 34-year-old returns to the Etihad Stadium on a two-year contract, eight years after his first spell at the club passed almost unnoticed. Registered by City in 2016-17 but never used in a competitive game, he left without a single first-team appearance. This time, his role is clear and defined.

Rulli arrives as the direct replacement for James Trafford, the England goalkeeper who completed a move to Leeds earlier in the week in a deal worth up to £45m. Where Trafford represented City’s next generation, Rulli comes in as proven insurance: a seasoned deputy behind undisputed number one Gianluigi Donnarumma.

If his name rings loud in European football, it is because of one extraordinary night. In the 2021 Europa League final for Villarreal against Manchester United, Rulli strode up in the penalty shootout and buried his spot-kick, then turned match-winner again by saving from David de Gea to seal the trophy. A goalkeeper deciding a European final with both feet and hands – it was the defining snapshot of his club career.

That moment sits alongside an increasingly decorated international résumé. Rulli has eight caps for Argentina and was part of the squads that lifted the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Copa America, experience that carries weight in any elite dressing room, even if he was not the headline act.

His journey to this second chance at City has taken him across the continent: Real Sociedad in Spain, Montpellier in France, Ajax in the Netherlands, and most recently Marseille. Everywhere, he has been trusted enough to keep finding jobs at the sharp end of European football.

City are not signing the future in Rulli. They are signing certainty. A goalkeeper who has stood in a European final, trained daily with world champions, and knows exactly what it means to wait, watch and be ready.

The first time he wore City colours, he never got close to the pitch. If Donnarumma stays fit and dominant, he may not get many more chances now. But in a season that will stretch City across four fronts, the day the veteran is needed will come. And when it does, they will be turning to a man who has already walked alone from the halfway line in a European final, with a trophy on his shoulders.