Manchester City have agreed a €2million deal with Marseille to sign goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.City have identified the 34-year-old as a replacement for James Trafford, who signed for Leeds in a move worth up to £45m earlier this week.Rulli had initially signed for City 10 years ago from Deportivo Maldonado, though he never made an appearance for the Premier League club; he was sent on loan to Real Sociedad and then joined them permanently in January 2017.Rulli had often been linked with a return to City around the turn of the decade but moved to different clubs around Europe, with spells at Villarreal, Ajax and Marseille.Rulli has spent the past two seasons in France with Marseille, making 73 appearances for the French club, and helped towards their second-placed Ligue 1 finish in 2024-25.The Argentina international, who has been capped eight times, was back-up to Emiliano Martinez during his nation’s run to the World Cup final this summer. He did not play a single minute of the tournament.
Trafford, meanwhile, joined Leeds this summer partly due to being unhappy with City signing Gianluigi Donnarumma shortly after his arrival at the Etihad Stadium last summer.The England international helped City win the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, but was looking for more regular first-team football in the Premier League.Rulli will join up with the City squad when they return from their pre-season tour of Hong Kong and South Korea next week.The players who took part in the latter stages of the World Cup are expected to report for their first training session under Enzo Maresca on Wednesday while the club will host an open training session on Thursday.Earlier this summer, City re-signed former academy goalkeeper Pierce Charles from Sheffield Wednesday. He will spend the 2026-27 season on loan at Queens Park Rangers.City have reshaped their goalkeeping departmentAfter being unable to keep hold of Trafford and therefore be able to have two very strong goalkeepers to call upon, City have identified a more traditional back-up goalkeeper in Rulli.He is a goalkeeper that City know well from the first time they signed him and his low fee suggests that he will be very much be regarded as Donnarumma’s understudy, albeit one that suits the club’s style and has plenty of experience, especially in teams used to playing out from the back.Rulli has represented Argentina eight times and will have the opportunity to work with fellow countryman and ex-City goalkeeper Willy Caballero, who is part of Maresca’s backroom staff.City’s summer is developing slowly on the transfer front after the record signing of Elliot Anderson but they are ready to replace Rodri if the Spain international completes a move to Barcelona.That is independent for any move for Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, while they will also aim to replace anybody else who leaves, including Savinho, who is of interest to Tottenham, and Tijjani Reijnders, who has been linked with Nottingham Forest, among others.
