Man City Reunites with Gerónimo Rulli Following Trafford's Exit
Manchester City have dipped back into their past to solve a present problem, agreeing a €2m deal with Marseille to bring Gerónimo Rulli back to the club as replacement for the departed James Trafford, according to The Athletic.
It is a move that feels both pragmatic and quietly symbolic. Low cost. High experience. And rooted in a history that never quite got started.
Rulli, now 34 and a World Cup-winning Argentina international, first signed for City in 2016 from Deportivo Maldonado. He never played a senior minute for the club before being sold on permanently to Real Sociedad. Eight years later, he returns not as a prospect, but as the steady, seasoned understudy City believe they now need.
Trafford’s Exit Forces City’s Hand
The decision comes in the wake of Trafford’s £45m switch to Leeds United, a deal driven by the young goalkeeper’s desire for regular Premier League football. He had every reason to look elsewhere.
Once Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived last summer, Trafford’s path to the No 1 shirt narrowed sharply. This despite his role in helping City lift both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. Medals in the cabinet, but minutes on the pitch increasingly scarce.
City’s hierarchy have responded with cold clarity. Rather than chase another high-fee, high-upside keeper, they have opted for reliability and fit. Rulli is viewed internally as a composed, technically capable deputy, comfortable in the build-up and able to slot into Enzo Maresca’s possession-heavy structure without disrupting rhythm.
At €2m, it is the kind of deal that keeps powder dry for bigger battles elsewhere in the squad.
A Veteran With Fresh Credentials
Rulli arrives from Marseille having made 73 appearances over the past two seasons, anchoring a side that asked him to play with his feet as much as with his hands. His inclusion in Argentina’s 2026 World Cup squad underlines the level at which he is still operating.
At City, he will work under a familiar face. Former City goalkeeper Willy Caballero, now on Maresca’s coaching staff, will oversee his integration. Caballero knows exactly what it means to live in the shadow of a first-choice keeper at this club, and exactly what standards are required when the call finally comes.
The move also slots into a broader goalkeeping plan. City recently re-signed Pierce Charles from Sheffield Wednesday before sending him on loan to QPR, a development pathway very different from the one Trafford chose. Rulli’s arrival gives Maresca the veteran buffer that allows those younger keepers to grow elsewhere.
Quiet Deal, Noisy Summer
Behind the calm of this transfer lies a more turbulent backdrop. The Athletic reports that City are bracing for potential exits in other areas, with Rodri linked to Barcelona and interest building around Savinho and Tijjani Reijnders.
Those are the sort of names that change the shape of a season. The Rulli deal does not. It stabilises. It protects. It buys time.
For Maresca, that matters. His first pre-season in charge is already under way, with City currently on tour in Hong Kong and South Korea. Rulli is scheduled to join up with the squad once they return next week, just as the preparation phase sharpens from fitness work into tactical detail.
Players involved in the latter stages of the World Cup are due to report for their first session under the new manager on Wednesday, followed by an open training session on Thursday. Those days will be intense: patterns drilled, roles defined, hierarchy clarified.
Somewhere in that structure, Rulli will find his place. Not as the headline act, not as the future of the position, but as the dependable presence behind Donnarumma that every title-chasing side needs.
City once signed him and never used him. Now, with trophies on the line and a new era under Maresca taking shape, they may finally discover what they were buying all along.
