The boss fielded questions from the media in anticipation of our friendly against the K-League All Stars, with kick-off at the Seoul World Cup Stadium set for 12:00 (UK) on Wednesday 5 August.
Donnarumma will be hoping to tally more pre-season minutes after he played the entirety of our first friendly, which saw City fall to a 3-1 penalty shootout defeat to Inter Milan in Hong Kong after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes.
But it was valuable time spent as a squad in the first leg of our Tour of Asia as Donnarumma, Maresca and the team continue to bond ahead of the 2026/27 season.
And since coming to City, it’s fair to say Maresca is delighted to have inherited Donnarumma, a world-class goalkeeper who is hungry to add to his 13 club honours from across his career.
“Absolutely yes,” said Maresca when asked if he’d always wanted to work with the 27-year-old.
“Gigio first of all, I know him from many years ago, he is from the same country as me and he is one of the best ‘keepers in the world.
“So, I am very excited to work with Gigio.
In his press conference, Maresca also showed gratitude and excitement following the warm welcome from our South Korea fans and is looking forward to sharing more moments together over the coming days.
“We just landed and the environment, the people that was there - the fans - has been very nice,” said Maresca.
“And we expect to see more fans in the next days, so we are excited for the next four or five days.”
Watch Maresca’s press conference in full via the video above…
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After a draw with Inter and win over K-League All Stars, we’ll now face Atletico Madrid on Sunday 9 August at 12:00 (UK).
It will be available to watch on mancity.com and our official app for current CITY+ subscribers globally*.
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*City v Atletico Madrid: Globally available except South Korea, Spain
