Mike Maignan has been pushing for a few days because he wants to transfer to Chelsea and fly with Enzo Maresca's team to the United States for the Club World Cup, but time is running out because tonight at midnight the special transfer window—which was opened specifically in view of the tournament taking place in the USA—closes. Contacts between the Blues and Milan are ongoing because there is still no agreement between the two clubs.
Total breakdown...
This was reported this morning by Tuttosport, which explains that in these hours Chelsea is expected to make a new offer, having to raise their initial bid—rejected by the Rossoneri—of €15 million and bring it up to around €20 million. Maignan, having finished his Nations League commitments with France, is waiting for updates, but with Milan the relationship is completely broken: the goalkeeper was left extremely disappointed by the Rossoneri's behavior regarding his contract renewal. The two parties had reached a basic agreement in February, but after that, the club never followed up for the signing, as some on-field errors by the Frenchman planted doubts in the minds of Milan’s management. And so, the negotiations for the extension were put on standby and never resumed.
Could Maignan leave for free instead?
Maignan was burned by this behavior from Milan, and for this reason he is now pushing for an immediate move to Chelsea. Furthermore, he has already informed the club that if the deal doesn’t close today, he will stay until the contract expires (2026) and then leave for free, which would surely cause financial damage to the Rossoneri who would gain nothing from his transfer. For his possible replacement, several names are circulating: from Elia Caprile of Napoli (Cagliari has an option to buy) to Mile Svilar of Roma, passing through Vanja Milinković-Savić (who has a €20 million release clause), as well as the captain of Germany’s U21 team, Noah Atubolu of Freiburg, and Zion Suzuki of Parma.
