The Chelsea goalkeeping conundrum: Would Mike Maignan have represented an upgrade?

New York Times

a day ago

At the end of an eventful June mini-transfer window that briefly looked as if it might address both of the biggest concerns that Chelsea supporters have about their team, the sporting leadership at Stamford Bridge have opted to park any reassessment of their goalkeeping options for now.
Liam Delap has arrived to provide a real No 9 alternative to Nicolas Jackson in time for the upcoming Club World Cup and, at the other end of the pitch, Milan and France No 1 Mike Maignan was the market opportunity upon whom Chelsea homed in to potentially give coach Enzo Maresca a more polished, proven foundation for his team than Robert Sanchez or Filip Jorgensen.
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Maignan is entering the final year of his contract at San Siro but, as detailed in this week's Transfer DealSheet, Milan are holding to a valuation significantly higher than the €15million (£12.7m; $17.1m) Chelsea have indicated they are willing to pay for a player who could move as a free agent in summer 2026.
As a result, they have ended their interest in the 29-year-old for now — though there is nothing to stop them pursuing a pre-contract agreement with him in a little more than six months' time.
A footballer's value is typically determined by the mechanics of the transfer market, with sporting directors and owners of rival clubs engaging each other in a game of negotiation and leverage. That is vital in determining whether or not a mooted deal happens, but in this case it is ultimately less interesting for supporters than the footballing proposition: would Maignan actually represent a meaningful upgrade on Chelsea's current options at his position?
Looking at a goalkeeper's primary responsibility (saving shots) provides the foundation for a compelling case to sign him.
Over the course of 23,153 league minutes played for French side Lille and Milan since the start of 2017-18, he has 8.7 goals prevented — calculated by Opta as the difference between actual goals conceded and the post-shot xG value of chances conceded — at a mildly positive average of 0.03 goals prevented per 90 minutes.
Sanchez and Jorgensen are both significantly inferior to Maignan in this metric, across far fewer league minutes. Djordje Petrovic, who shone on loan at Strasbourg in the French top flight this season, has performed better than Maignan, with 22.2 goals prevented at an average of 0.23 per 90.
Petrovic may simply be an exceptional shot-stopper, but at age 25 has played fewer than 9,000 league minutes since the start of 2017-18, so it is also possible that his eye-catching numbers would regress at least a little over a larger, more comparable sample size. The positive value of his goals prevented is concentrated overwhelmingly in his seasons with New England Revolution in MLS and Strasbourg, while he struggled in his lone campaign playing for Chelsea.
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Maignan's ability to be a net positive in terms of keeping the ball out of his goal, over the equivalent of more than 250 league appearances for Lille and Milan, marks him out as a safe pair of hands.
But in the modern game, goalkeepers in elite teams are asked to do much more than simply save shots. Maresca wants Chelsea's goalkeeper to be just as comfortable operating outside his penalty area as within it, both to disrupt opposition attacks and to provide an additional passing option in possession.
When it comes to being a sweeper-keeper, Maignan is as active as they come; no goalkeeper in Europe's top four leagues (England, Germany, Italy and Spain) made more ball recoveries outside their penalty area in 2024-25. His average of one ball recovery outside the box per game was precisely double Sanchez's average (0.5) for Chelsea in the same campaign, and also far more frequent than Jorgensen's average in 2023-24, which was his final season as Spanish club Villarreal's No 1 (0.6).
Maignan is quick out of his box to intercept longer opposition passes behind his defence, but also remains controlled enough to make a good decision once he reaches the ball.
Here, against Napoli in March, he jumps to meet a bouncing ball at head height with opposition striker Romelu Lukaku in close proximity and cushions a header to a team-mate rather than clearing it out of play:
There is every reason to think that Maignan could be an asset to any team who seek to defend high up the pitch, but what about his ability in possession?
That aspect of Petrovic's game has always been regarded as the most questionable fit with Maresca's style of play, while match-going Chelsea fans have not exactly relished the experience of watching Sanchez and Jorgensen bait pressure from opposition forwards before attempting to play through and around it.
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Maignan absolutely backs himself on the ball; it is not difficult to find clips online of him dribbling around other teams' attackers, dropping a shoulder and chopping the ball away from attempted tackles, and waiting until the last possible moment before playing a pass. It is rare for him to be caught out in these moments, and he generally makes good decisions.
But any Chelsea supporters who think replacing Sanchez with Maignan would bring an end to those heart-in-mouth sequences of passing under pressure would probably be disappointed.
The prevailing trend to court danger in your own defensive third begins with the passes that goalkeepers are instructed to play, not necessarily the ones they would choose to make. Maignan is more reliable in these situations than most, but he is no stranger to playing what is earning a reputation as the most dangerous pass in football, as the below sequence in France's 2-0 win against Germany in the UEFA Nations League semi-finals last week highlighted.
Maignan draws one German attacker towards him before nudging the ball out to Adrien Rabiot, who has a clear escape pass out to the left flank but receives under serious duress in front of his own penalty area. His first touch takes him the other way, he is bundled to the ground by Niclas Fullkrug and Deniz Undav converts the chance presented to him.
Only a VAR intervention, for a foul on Rabiot, prevents Germany halving that two-goal deficit.
Longer distribution distinguished Maignan early in his time at Milan.
He is capable of launching the ball deep into the opposition half, right onto the head of his striker or perfectly into the stride of a winger, as he does to spring Rafael Leao for a devastatingly direct goal below:
Despite his repeated public vows to substitute Sanchez if he kicks the ball long, Maresca does recognise the value of more direct kicking from his goalkeeper in certain situations. The results of this with the Spaniard have been pretty erratic, and it is hard not to conclude that Maignan would at least be an upgrade in this regard.
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Maignan's assertiveness off his line does not always translate to set-piece situations; Liverpool twice exploited his conservative positioning to score through centre-backs Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk in a 3-1 win against Milan last September in the league phase of the Champions League. One of those was the result of the 32-time France international's misguided attempt to punch the ball clear.
But, on the whole, he clears the bar that neither Sanchez nor Jorgensen set particularly high during this season, despite a stronger end to the campaign from the former.
Maignan's age could also make him a solid 'bridge' goalkeeper for a few years while Chelsea develop 19-year-old newcomer Mike Penders, who will be involved in their challenge at the Club World Cup.
We now know Maignan will not be with them in the United States over the coming weeks, but the market opportunity his contract situation presents is one that Chelsea may want to keep a close eye on in the months ahead.