The penalty saved from Dybala has put the Rossoneri goalkeeper back in the spotlight. Thanks to his saves, he has already earned his team several points in this championship. At the moment, contract renewal negotiations remain at a standstill and his departure (with Chelsea in pole position) seems inevitable, but one last attempt will be made.

After the match against Roma, Massimiliano Allegri ruled himself out: “How did I convince Maignan to stay? It wasn’t me at all. It was Claudio Filippi, one of the best trainers around. And then there’s the club, which really wanted to keep him.” White lies, as such, do no harm. But, from what we understood over the summer, Mike’s short-term future had developed in a rather different way. At one point, the Frenchman had become Chelsea’s promised groom, to whom – it should be noted – he had also said yes. The deal did not go through only because the two clubs could not reach a financial agreement: with one year left on his contract, the amount requested by the Rossoneri was considered excessive by the Blues. And so – this must also be emphasized – if that agreement had been reached, Mike would now be between the posts at Stamford Bridge. Once the deal with Chelsea fell through and as the weeks went by, the Rossoneri club rightly decided that securing their goalkeeper was a priority. And Allegri, even if he publicly denies it, certainly played a role. How can you blame him, though? In a Milan team that needed to be rebuilt from the ground up, Maignan was one of the key figures. A recognized and recognizable leader in matches, in training, and in the locker room.

Against Roma, after saving Dybala’s penalty, the Meazza erupted with a roar even louder than the one for Pavlovic’s goal, and his teammates smothered Mike with hugs. However, it is difficult, very difficult, for this complacency to carry over to the fourth floor of Via Aldo Rossi in the coming weeks. In that room where players are handed a pen and a sheet of paper to sign on the table. Nothing new in this regard and, in this case, no good news is a totally inappropriate saying. The issue comes up every time Maignan becomes “Magic.” For example, as in Turin with Juve (Gatti), in Bergamo (Zappacosta), and, indeed, with Roma. Super saves that squeeze real points out of the standings, as if they were goals. It is logical, therefore, that as time goes by, his contractual situation stands out more and more. Mike’s contract is expiring, and in two months, he will be free to sign with another club, where he will take up residence from July onwards. There are no different signals at the moment, the stalemate continues, and what was once a dialogue has been frozen for some time now. The paths of the player and the club are inexorably heading towards separation, even if Milan will try to make one last attempt. A renewal proposal (2028) had already been put on the table for the Frenchman a year ago, with a salary increase from $2.8 million to $5 million. But then it was Milan itself that slowed down. And now Maignan seems quite determined to rekindle his relationship with Chelsea (but keep an eye on Bayern and Juve too). The Rossoneri are obviously looking around, and not just since today. The first names to end up in Tare’s notebook were Noah Atubolu (Freiburg) and Zion Suzuki (Parma).