Chelsea are making swift moves in the transfer market after securing Champions League football for next season.
Enzo Maresca will head into a second season as Chelsea manager — a pleasure that was seldom afforded during Roman Abramovich’s time in charge.
But Maresca has proven that he can win with this group of young players, even if the Italian wasn’t always popular with Chelsea fans throughout the season.
In terms of where Chelsea can improve, one glaringly obvious area for an upgrade is in goal.
Despite spending a lot of money on goalkeepers in recent years, the likes of Robert Sanchez, Filip Jorgensen, Djordje Petrovic and Mike Penders, Chelsea still don’t have a dominant number one.
Chelsea could finally sign Mike Maignan from AC Milan
That being said, Chelsea are now pushing to sign AC Milan’s Mike Maignan, a 29-year-old who is considered to be one of Europe’s best.
Maignan succeeded Hugo Lloris for France and now has 28 caps for his country, a goalkeeper who is currently AC Milan’s captain.
Now, Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol has reported that Chelsea have a ‘very good chance’ of signing Maignan this summer, a goalkeeper they’ve been interested in before.
Photo by Elianton/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
Photo by Elianton/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
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Chelsea sent a bid to sign Maignan in 2023 shortly before Mauricio Pochettino took over from Frank Lampard, only to be told that the Italian side wanted £85m for their star player.
But with one year left on his deal right now, the Frenchman should be considerably cheaper this time around.
Explaining the situation, Solhekol said: “Chelsea are in talks with AC Milan about signing Mike Maignan. Now we believe that there is a very good chance that this deal will happen.
“A lot of Chelsea fans would be saying brilliant, this is great news – what we need is a new number one.
“This guy is the real deal, he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world, he’s 29-years-old, he’s France number one, he’s got the personality, the stature, the character to become the undisputed number one at Chelsea and he’s only got a year left on his contract at AC Milan.”
"A very good chance that this deal is going to happen" 🚨
Chelsea are in talks to sign AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/7uW0zI2n1Z
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 3, 2025
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How does Mike Maignan compare to Robert Sanchez?
Of course, any goalkeeper who arrives at Chelsea this summer will need to be a significant upgrade on what is available to Maresca right now.
And given that Sanchez prevailed as Chelsea’s number one for most of last season, it’s worth comparing his efforts to Maignan across the campaign.
Matches Goals against/90 Save % Clean Sheet % Penalty save %
Mike Maignan 37 1.12 70.6 32.4 50
Robert Sanchez 32 1.06 76.4 31.3 20
Mike Maignan and Robert Sanchez compared during their respective league campaigns in 2024/25.
Surprisingly, via FBRef’s data, there wasn’t a huge discrepancy between Maignan and Sanchez last season, even if the Frenchman is a lot better when it comes to the eye-test.
The pair’s data is fairly similar at surface level, but anyone who has watched both in action will know that Maignan is a lot more commanding and inspiring for the defence ahead of him.
Former Chelsea man Fikayo Tomori has praised Maignan in the past, and the Milan star should be an excellent addition to Maresca’s squad, providing a deal is agreed.