He played there until he was 14, when Calcio Catania sporting director Pietro Lo Monaco scouted the player and signed him.
He formed a great partnership with Alessandro Malafronte and most notably Francesco Nicastro during his time within Catania's youth program.
His senior playing career began in 2009, when the attacker earned first-team call-ups towards the end of the 2009–10 Serie A campaign, at the age of 18.
In July 2010, Donnarumma was loaned out to Lega Pro Prima Divisione side, A.S. Gubbio 1910 in order to earn regular playing experience.
[7] He helped Empoli win the Serie B title and achieve promotion to Serie A during the 2017–18 season, forming a prolific attacking partnership with Francesco Caputo; together, the pair scored 49 goals, finishing as the top two scorers in the league, with Donnarumma scoring 23 goals and Caputo 26.
[10] On 25 August 2019, Donnarumma made his Serie A debut, also scoring his first goal in the Italian top flight, in a 1–0 away win over Cagliari.
A fast forward with good technique, dribbling skills in one on one situations, link-up play, and an ability to read the game, his biggest strengths as a player are his tenacity, bravery, tactical intelligence, and work-rate off the ball, as well as his ability to create space with his movement, and provide depth to his team by holding up the ball for his teammates with his back to goal.