On Saturday, Milan fans woke up to the positive news of the perfect New Year’s Gift. La Gazzetta reported that the Rossoneri management has offered a bumper new contract to Mike Maignan, putting forward
€7 million per season for the goalkeeper.
This comes close to the Frenchman’s demand of €7.5 million per season, with optimism growing at Casa Milan about keeping the 29-year-old.
While this should ideally come as fantastic news for the Diavolo faithfuls, it can easily go the other way and there is significant risk of that happening.
Maignan’s injury record
It is fair to say that Maignan has been crucial for Milan this season, silencing critics that doubted him in the previous campaign. In general, his abilities have done the club a great deal of service since he joined from Lille to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But it is also fair to say that Maignan has always had the big question mark of injuries as an asterix next to his name. Since the 2021/22 season, he has missed as many as 55 games for club and country and a vast majority of them have been muscle injuries. Earlier this season, he scraped through another such muscle issue.
And Maignan is not getting any younger with every passing day either. There is every chance that his issues could multiply as he he grows older. If that happens, he would turn into a massive burden on the wage budget.
Younger options out there?
With due respect to Maignan’s achievements at the San Siro, it is fair to say that there are younger and cheaper options than him in the market. They might not be certain upgrades but they are very much in the good to very category.
Cagliari’s Elia Caprile, for example has had quite a journey in the game and has grown as a leader and as a shot-stopper in the last two seasons. He is Italian and can grow further at the right club.
He has a clean fitness record and would demand much less wages than Maignan, handing guarantees that some funds can be used for other areas of the squad. This approach would be more in line with the Rossoneri’s recruitment style, knowing how they do not go beyond certain points when it comes to paying wages.
