Donnarumma: Man City are not in transition, it's going to be a great season

· Sky-PL

"This is who we are. This is our team. This is City."

> "I don't really like the word 'transition.'" he adds. "The club's objective is to win. This team's objective is to win. We'll certainly give everything we can to achieve that.

> "We could reach the end of the season having won something, or having won nothing. But what's important is having a winning mentality, going out there and trying to win everything we possibly can."

Part of that winning mentality is being driven by Donnarumma - who is part of a newly-formed leadership group that replaced the likes of Bernardo, Stones and Rodri.

Donnarumma sits alongside Ruben Dias in the leadership pecking order, along with Haaland and Marc Guehi. All four players have one thing in common: they all have won trophies both at City and at other clubs in their careers.

So as the likes of Ayyoub Bouaddi, Elliot Anderson and Ilimian Ndiaye settle into their new team - tasked with making an immediate impact in a non-transition year - the leadership quartet are there to drive the standards.

> "We've changed a few players. A few new ones have arrived," says Donnarumma. "They're all top players who are used to playing on the biggest stages, dealing with certain situations, and playing in the Premier League.

> "It's not easy at the beginning when you move to a new club, a new organisation, a new city. But they're adapting well, and we're making them feel comfortable.

> "The players who were already here are helping them a lot. I think we're going to have a great season.

> "The objective is to get to the end and compete for everything there is to compete for - in addition to the Premier League, there's the Champions League and the two domestic cups."

It's a clear warning from City that anything is possible when it comes to this team. But when it comes to Donnarumma's aim of challenging for the Premier League and the Champions League, one team stands in the way: Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta's side have also started the season with five straight wins - and have the added recent psychological boost of pipping City to the Premier League post last May.

The recent Guardiola documentary showed down and disappointed scenes from City players as they slipped up at Bournemouth to hand the Gunners the title. Donnarumma - who had won the league title in each of the previous five seasons before last term - was one of them.

> "It's difficult, but that's football, that's life. You're not on your own," he says about that disappointment. "There are other strong teams, especially in the Premier League.

> "It's not that if you don't win there isn't disappointment - of course there is - but it can happen because there are other teams as well, just like in the Champions League.

> "It's important to go into every game trying to win it. Certainly, our objective will be to win, but there are other teams too.

> "You have to compete, you have to work, and you have to do everything possible because the history of this club demands it."

Will it be City and Arsenal again competing at the top come May? "I don't know. We're only four games into the season," says the Italian goalkeeper.

But the stall has been set out. "Our focus right now has to be on working and trying to win every game. That has to be our objective.

> "Whether we achieve it in the end or not, only time will tell."

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