Manchester City Sign Gerónimo Rulli as Goalkeeping Backup

Manchester City have turned to a familiar name to solve their goalkeeping reshuffle, agreeing a €2m deal with Marseille to sign Argentina international Gerónimo Rulli, according to The Athletic.

It is a move that feels both pragmatic and pointed. City are not shopping for a new No 1. They are buying security.

From forgotten signing to trusted deputy

Rulli, now 34, once passed through City almost unnoticed. Signed from Deportivo Maldonado in 2016, he never made a senior appearance before being moved on permanently to Real Sociedad. On paper, he was a City player. In reality, he was a line in the accounts.

This time is different. This time he is coming in with a clear role and a defined purpose.

City needed a replacement after James Trafford left for Leeds United in a £45m deal, chasing the regular Premier League minutes that were never likely to come his way at the Etihad. Trafford had helped City lift both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, but his path was effectively blocked when Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived last summer. One elite goalkeeper was enough. Trafford knew it.

So City have pivoted. They have not gone like-for-like in age or value. They have gone for experience, temperament and a specific skill set.

A keeper built for City’s system

Inside the club, Rulli is viewed as a low-cost, high-knowledge understudy: someone who can accept the role behind Donnarumma yet still deliver the build-up quality demanded by Enzo Maresca’s system.

This is not just about shot-stopping. City want a goalkeeper who can step into the first phase of possession, take the ball under pressure, and keep their structure intact. Rulli, who made 73 appearances for Marseille over the past two seasons, fits that profile. His inclusion in Argentina’s 2026 World Cup squad underlines how highly he is regarded back home.

He will also find a familiar voice on the training pitch. Former City goalkeeper Willy Caballero, now part of Maresca’s coaching staff, will work directly with him. For a veteran keeper walking back into a club that once barely noticed him, that presence matters.

A quiet rebuild behind the headlines

Rulli’s arrival slots into a broader, more subtle piece of squad management.

City recently re-signed Pierce Charles from Sheffield Wednesday before sending him on loan to QPR, a move that protects the club’s future in the position while clearing space in the short term. With Donnarumma entrenched as first choice, Rulli as the experienced deputy, and Charles developing elsewhere, the goalkeeping department is suddenly ordered, layered, and logical.

The more dramatic questions lie further up the pitch. The Athletic reports that City are bracing for possible exits, with Rodri linked to Barcelona and interest circling around Savinho and Tijjani Reijnders. Those are the kind of moves that reshape a season, not just a depth chart.

For now, though, City have quietly solved a problem that could have grown into a distraction.

Maresca’s first look at his new No 2

Rulli is expected to join up with the squad once they return from their pre-season tour of Hong Kong and South Korea next week. The calendar is tight. The margin for adjustment is thinner still.

Players involved in the latter stages of the World Cup are due in on Wednesday for their first session under Maresca, with an open training session scheduled for Thursday. That window will give the new manager his first real chance to test the mechanics of his ideas with something close to a full group.

For Rulli, it is a second chance at a club where his first never really started. For City, it is a small, calculated move designed to keep everything else stable.

The bigger question now is not whether they have the right backup goalkeeper. It is whether the rest of this window leaves Maresca with a squad capable of matching the standards this club now treats as non-negotiable.