The 29-year-old has been heavily linked with leaving the Rossoneri this summer, as he is now in the final 12 months of his current contract with no renewal agreement in sight.
_**READ MORE: [Potential double exit touted as interest shown in Milan duo](https://talkmilan.com/ac-milan-theo-hernandez-samuel-chukwueze-transfer-exit-talk/)**_
In turn, rather than run the risk of losing him for nothing next summer, Milan could opt to cash in now while they can, particularly with Chelsea pushing hard to prise him away from San Siro.
According to [Gianluca Di Marzio](https://gianlucadimarzio.com/calciomercato-milan-maignan-chelsea-news/), the Premier League side have now raised their offer to £18m, and so it remains to be seen if that will be enough to convince Milan to green light a sale.
While Maignan has been an influential and decisive presence in the side since he arrived in 2021, the alternative to not selling him this month will likely be seeing the French shot-stopper running his contract down and leaving as a free agent next year.
With that in mind, Milan may feel as though agreeing on an exit now and securing the funds to go towards signing his replacement could be the smart option, but time will tell if we’ll hold out for more and try to get Chelsea to increase their offer once again to meet our valuation.
The transfer window is open until Tuesday evening before it will temporarily close due to the Club World Cup, and so it’s unlikely we’ll have to wait much longer before this transfer saga reaches a conclusion and we’ll know one way or the other if Maignan will be between the posts for Milan next season.
What is absolutely fundamental though from a Milan perspective is that if we are going to approve a transfer, we must identify and acquire a successor who will be just as decisive to ensure we fill that void adequately.
Given the upheaval we look set to experience in the coming weeks with the number of exits being speculated, it looks to be shaping up to be a hectic summer for sporting director Igli Tare and coach Massimiliano Allegri in stamping their mark on this squad.