Recruited for €16M by AC Milan during the summer of 2021, Mike Maignan did not take long to make himself indispensable in Lombardy. With 17 clean sheets and only 19 goals conceded in 32 Serie A matches, he was one of the great architects of AC Milan’s championship title in 2021/22. Performances which have allowed him to become the number 1 goalkeeper in the French team for 2 years now. A real romance has been born for 2 and a half years between the French goalkeeper with 13 caps for the French team and the emblematic Italian club.
But this season is trying for the former goalkeeper trained at PSG, not as imperial as during his first months in Milan. If he was elected man of the match against Fiorentina last weekend (1-0 victory for Milan), he had a complicated match against Borussia Dortmund this week at San Siro (1-3). The fault lies in a crumbly defense and increasingly significant internal upheavals within AC Milan. Between an increasingly discussed Stefano Pioli, a well-stocked infirmary, a squad not sized to play in several competitions, the shadow of a Paolo Maldini which still hovers over the Italian city without forgetting the financial difficulties which do not leave nothing bodes well in Lombardy (we are talking about a shortfall of more than 113 million euros in the event of non-qualification in the 1/8 finals of the LdC) the Italian club has already shown itself in better form day.
MU, Chelsea and PSG on the lookout
The players are well aware of this and obviously the timing for discussing extension is not the most favorable. The case of Mike Maignan, who has been discussing an extension since last spring, is not isolated but could well crystallize the difficulties awaiting AC Milan in the coming weeks. Although having a contract until June 2026, Maignan, who feels very good in Lombardy, asked to see his salary significantly increased, so that it correlates with that of a world-class goalkeeper starting in the one of the major selections in world football. And we are currently far from that, even if discussions continue. One thing is certain, the native of Cayenne does not want to hear about leaving for the moment and for AC Milan it is currently out of the question to imagine Maignan leaving Lombardy in the short term.
In any case, this situation does not escape the prestigious European clubs ready to offer themselves the talents of a goalkeeper of the level of Mike Maignan. According to our information, Manchester United (Erik Ten Hag really likes his profile and is not convinced by André Onana), Chelsea (who is still very interested as was already the case last summer), Bayern Munich (who is looking for a successor to Manuel Neuer), PSG, his training club, are there and are waiting quietly and carefully following the negotiations between the 28-year-old goalkeeper, whose value is estimated at more than €70 million, and AC Milan. To be continued…
