Man City sanctioned one thing during transfer window that won't happen again - 'this was the exception'
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Credit: Imago
Alex Oakhill
Wed 24 September 2025 12:45, UK
Manchester City sanctioned something during the transfer window that is unlikely to happen again in the future.
It was a busy summer for Pep Guardiola, who made a number of moves in the market to refresh and revitalise his squad.
The departures of Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne signified a changing of the guard, with Man City bringing in the likes of Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Tijjani Reijnders in their place.
There was also developments in the goalkeeping department, with Gianluigi Donnarumma making the move to the Eithad.
Credit: Imago
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that Donnarumma was a “one-off” signing for City, due to his extremely high wage demands.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness insisted that Man City were happy to “push the boat out” to sign the Italian international as he is a high-quality keeper, and there are very few of them about.
Over the summer, it was revealed that Donnarumma wanted upwards of £400,000 per week, and Paris Saint-Germain weren’t prepared to pay that, which led to his exit.
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Wyness added that the signing of the PSG shot stopper was an exception, and Man City are unlikely to agree to such large wage demands in the future.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I think it was a one-off, I think Donnarumma’s a one-off.
“I think City were prepared to push the boat out, which they won’t do very often, but he was an exception.
But Donnarumma could command it.
“City have made an exception.
I think they know that, and I think even the players in the squad will understand what Donnarumma is and how important he can be to the squad and for them to get their bonuses.
“I don’t think it will cause disruption in the squad, in terms of his salary level.
So I think he is the exception, not the rule.”
With Donnarumma likely to be earning around £250k per week at Man City, it makes him the fourth-highest paid player at the club, behind Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, and Omar Marmoush.
Haaland penned a massive new nine-year deal at the Etihad back in January, which reportedly sees him bring in £525k per week (Capology).
Credit: Imago
Silva and Marmoush meanwhile are both on around £300k, with defender John Stones earning a similar amount to Donnarumma.
James Trafford, who was replaced by the Italian shot-stopper, earns around five times less than his goalkeeping counterpart.
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