It's official ! Currently at Clairefontaine with his partners from the France team, where they are preparing the next Euro (from June 11 to July 11), Mike Maignan is leaving Lille to join Serie A. The international goalkeeper has signed up for a long lease of 5 seasons with the legendary AC Milan. A club which, after seven long years of famine, will return to the Champions League games next season thanks to its 2nd place in the league. "The goalkeeper has signed a contract until June 30, 2026 and he will wear the N.16 jersey," said his new club in a statement where we see the new player in the huge trophy room of the Milanese.
Due to his busy schedule with the Blues, the native of Cayenne (Guyana) wasted no time in deciding his future destination.
Sacred champion of France with Lille on Sunday evening, he flew the next day to pass the traditional medical examination and finalize the details of his contract in Milan.
An express round trip.
Absorbing the history, ready to defend the future đź”´âš«
Un tuffo nella storia, prima di scrivere insieme il futuro đź”´âš« #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/PCtQfAGUdP
- AC Milan (@acmilan) May 27, 2021
Lille confirmed “the total agreement reached with AC Milan for the transfer of Mike Maignan.
The French international goalkeeper will commit definitively with the Rossoneri club as soon as the Italian transfer market officially opens, ”the French champion club indicated on its website.
This season has been the one of confirmation for Maignan which has taken on a new dimension.
First on the field, where he had a full season, with 21 "clean sheets", but also in the locker room where he did not hesitate to speak.
"It's a moment of joy"
A few minutes after this news, the doorman was speaking at a press conference, in Clairefontaine, with the tracksuit of the France team on the back. "It's a moment of joy," he said of his signing in Italy. The former Parisian wanted above all to approach the Euro with a free spirit in relation to the transfer window. He is delighted that his transfer to AC Milan will be recorded before the start of the European Championship: “It's much easier to do now. The Euro is coming, it's better to prepare with a free head while remaining focused on the France team. "
In Milan, Mike Maignan will meet his ex-partner in Lille Rafael Leão. He will also play alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whom he had worked with at PSG: “The reunion (
Editor's note: with Zlatan
) will go well. I know they will welcome me. It's a great club, with great players, a great team. (…) I can't seem to make Donnarumma forget. I come to do my job and give the best of myself. Maignan now intends to remain focused on the Euro and the selection. In the skin of number 2 or number 3 in the hierarchy of goalkeepers? “I don't know,” he says.
The recent champion of France is also delighted with the return of Karim Benzema to the Blues: “Working with players of this level always brings more. He has experience and we see that he is a very professional person, ”he concluded on this subject.
Lille, a club hit hard by the crisis due to the pandemic, by poor management of its former leaders and by the failure of Mediapro, the Ligue 1 broadcaster, should receive a transfer fee estimated between 13 and 15 million d 'euros. A jackpot that Lille will however have to share with… PSG. Maignan, who started football in Villiers-le-Bel (Va d'Oise) joined the capital club in 2009. He will do all his training there and take his first professional steps before joining the North in 2015 for a million euros. The two clubs then reached an agreement which allowed PSG to receive a percentage on the future transfer of Maignan.
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