Manchester City Signs Geronimo Rulli as Goalkeeper Replacement
Manchester City have turned to a familiar name to reinforce their goalkeeping department, striking a €2m (£1.7m) deal for Geronimo Rulli to step in as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s new deputy.
The move comes swiftly on the back of James Trafford’s departure to Leeds United for an initial £40m this week. City did not linger in the market. They identified the gap, then went for experience, medals and temperament.
Rulli will sign a two-year contract at the Etihad Stadium and arrive from Marseille, where he has spent the last two seasons as the French club’s first-choice goalkeeper. At 34, he is not a project for tomorrow. He is cover for a team built to win now.
This will actually be his second spell on City’s books. The first one passed almost unnoticed. Signed in 2016, he never made a competitive appearance, was immediately loaned to Real Sociedad and then sold permanently to the Spanish side. His name slipped out of the conversation in Manchester, but his career did anything but fade.
In Spain, France and the Netherlands he has built a reputation as a big-moment goalkeeper. Spells at Montpellier and Ajax added variety to a CV that already included one of the most dramatic nights in recent European history.
With Villarreal, Rulli became a Europa League winner in 2021, playing the lead role in that epic final against Manchester United. In the penalty shootout, he both scored and saved from the spot, turning a tense night in Gdańsk into a personal showcase. That image – goalkeeper striding up, converting, then denying his opposite number – is the kind of steel City now want behind Donnarumma.
His international résumé is just as glittering, even if his boots stayed clean. Rulli was part of Argentina’s World Cup-winning squad in 2022 and then a runner-up this summer, but did not play a minute in either tournament. Still, he has lived inside dressing rooms that know how to go the distance, and that experience tends to travel well.
For City, the logic is clear. Trafford’s exit brought a sizeable fee but left a hole in the depth chart. In Rulli they gain a seasoned, decorated goalkeeper who understands the club, the European game and the pressure that comes with chasing every trophy on offer.
He arrives older, sharper, and with a medal collection that dwarfs the one he had when he first signed in 2016. This time, the question is not whether he will ever play for Manchester City – but how often he will be called upon in a season that could stretch deep into every competition.
