GdS: Maignan wants Leao-level salary to renew – the latest on negotiations

By Oliver Fisher -

Now that the January transfer window has closed, the AC Milan management can begin working on some crucial renewals including that of Mike Maignan.

La Gazzetta dello Sport (as seen below) talks about how Maignan’s contract expires in 2026 and he is in his third season with the club, having proved himself to be one of the best in the world in his position.

In his first season he was decisive in winning the Scudetto, in the second a long injury kept him away from the pitch and he was missed dearly and this season he is showing his worth again, which is why the big teams in Europe are interested.

That is why the Milan management want to extend his deal, and the latest events have contributed to strengthening the relationship between the player and the club.

The Rossoneri strongly sided with Maignan after the events in Udine, they supported him in his battle and promoted initiatives to raise public awareness on the issue, which the goalkeeper appreciated.

He felt ‘protected and embraced’ as per the paper, and he underlined his pride in being part of the club. An excellent starting point: personal connection has an impact.

In addition to mutual affection and consideration, an economic agreement is needed. Maignan earns €3.2m net per season and to renew he is asking for about double that, in the €6-7m net per year range.

However, even though it would be quite a big pay rise, he does not want €8-10m as was initially thought. Asking for an adjustment to his salary remains legitimate due to the value that is recognised both by Milan but also other big clubs.

If he affects the team’s performance as much as Rafael Leao, with decisive saves and leadership, he will consequently be able to aspire to the same financial treatment.

Leao’s salary can reach €7m net with bonuses, making him the highest paid player in the squad today, so Mike doesn’t want to be outdone. The negotiation will only come to fruition in the next few weeks, once the winter transfer window is firmly behind us.

With a renewal, Maignan would be tied to Milan until the summer of 2028. The extension would give further strength to the club even if it were open to a hypothetical offer from Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain.

Financial sustainability requires some sacrifice, as long as it is well repaid and allows the club to reinvest the proceeds in an attempt to make the team increasingly competitive.

Tags AC Milan Mike Maignan

16 Comments

  1. Should have offered the 7M€ in December because now it would cost a couple of million euros more each year due to lack of Growth Decree. The management f*cked it up again.

    1. Maignan is gone. Either la Gazza is making up something from his IG after Udinese when he just wrote “I want to thank my club, my teammates, the referee, the Udinese players etc.”, either it’s an internal intel from Milan’s PR and it should be taken with a grain of salt. Get ready for a new summer campaign of “greedy (insert top player’s name) wants the money”.

      1. Yep. Already said it many times before. Milan’s failure to give him what he wants before the canceling of Growth Decree made it 99.999% certain he will be sold this summer. Milan cannot afford to pay him what he wants.

        Let’s just hope we’ll get enough $$$s for him so we won’t have to sell Hernandez or others too.

        1. We can lament the Growth Decree vis-a-vis Mike all we want, but its cancellation will affect all negotiations going forward, so Mike seems like a drop in the bucket in this regard.

          I’d prefer to keep him, but if he has to be sold for and he fetches at least ~60m it will be a good deal. A replacement can be sourced for under 20m. There is Di Gregorio, Musso has 1 year left on his contract and has been displaced by Carnesecchi and probably can be had for 6-8m, etc. IF he is sold for ~60m, and IF he’s replacement is found for 20m or less, it would mean 40m for Zirkzee, and then the “usual” 50m transfer budget can be used on a top CB and/or a top CDM to round out the summer window. Again, would prefer to keep Mike, but it’s not all doom and gloom if we need to sell.

  2. Yep, time to let him go. I don’t think he’s worth it right now as his performances have dropped considerably. He has cost us several times and I think Sportiello was equally good when he played. If we can get 50-60 for him then we can reinvest in an equally good goalie and get some extra for other investments.

    He has let in 2+ goals in 9 games this season alone. Juve has one game with more than one goal conceded. Of course there is more to defence than the goalkeeper but I think another goalie probably wouldn’t have been much worse. And just look at how Inter vhanged from Onana to Sommer. It’s not like their performances have dropped since getting a keeper who is a bit less gifted with the feet.

  3. From this point of view Leao doesn’t deserve the money he gets . Right? So we sell him too lol this comment section can easily hate anyone. Maignan is the best goalie we can have rn he didn’t play well one season so Leao is. He deserves an upgrade as any top star in the team Leao Theo Maignan Bennacer. We have the least wages costs from all the team and least amount of players so a little upgrade to their wage it’s wouldn’t be bad . So make new contract you aren’t going to sign any player so you might as well renew your star players

  4. Time to sell Maignan and Leao. We can easily get 60m for Maignan who is on the decline and he is the most injury prone goalkeeper I know. Leao can go for a minimum of 130m.

    That will give us 190m plus the sale of CDK, Saelemaekers, Messias, Origi, Pellegrino, Calabria and hopefully Gabbia and Pobega too.

    I would dare to say sell Chukuwueze too because I really don’t see where these players would fit in Conte’s system.

    With the sale of these players combined we will have more than 200m to rebuild the squad with the right players for Conte’s preferred formation.

    Milan need a coach with a wining mentality. Conte may not be good in UCL but he must be created for rebuilding Juventus after they were relegated to Serie B and he must also be created for breaking Juventus dominance by rebuilding Inter and making them into a winning team.

    Milan need to be strong in Serie A first and we are lacking a winning mentality and that competitiveness that’s needed to dominate in the league before we can return to Champions League glory.

    1. Another year zero and for a coach with a negative style who will be gone in 2 seasons forcing is into yet another year zero to accommodate whoever follows if they aren’t a 3-5-2 coach. No thanks.

  5. Except that he’s not worth that money. He’s the most injury prone keeper I’ve ever seen. The guy misses months at a time every season, and his actual goalkeeping hasn’t been very good this season. Just see the last game.

  6. It’s hilarious how quickly so many of the Redbird lovers on here immediately turn to say a player is now trash and should be sold when he PROVES his value over multiple seasons and has outperformed his original BELOW MARKET salary. Embarrassing

    First – the market dictates a players worth not a fan boy

    Second – any renewal for increase in salary should be weighed against the previous years playing for an UNDER market deal. He was paid 2.8M the past 3 years and he OUTPERFORMED that deal many times over. So you have to average it out his last deal with this new one because we got away with paying him peanuts that past 2-3 years and saved that salary. He stayed loyal didn’t ask to leave and honored his contract and the shirt. Now he is asking to be paid market value (actually UNDER his market value if he is only asking for 6M) – and now fans are saying to sell he’s trash???? Donkeys

    Third – you don’t win UCL by taking a semi- final team and dismantling it selling each core player piece by piece to the highest bidder. Yes you will make lots of money/profit – but it will not win you titles. The teams that have won UCL have been together for years. Replacing one or two core players each year will lower cost ones with questionable backgrounds or younger youth players that need time to develop won’t make you win titles. BUT I guess that is the issue – Redbird are interested in profit not titles. Seems some fans on here are as well. Disappointing.

    Fourth – don’t assume we will spend every dollar from a Leao, Mike, Theo, (insert other CORE player here) etc…sale back in to strengthening the sqaud. Also – it takes YEARS to develop young talent. Look how long we waited for Leao and Theo for example. So thinking we can just swap out core players for cheaper younger replacements and we will be guaranteed success is naive.

    As @bb pointed out above management screwed up not signing Mike BEFORE the growth decree went away. We could have signed him to a below market deal, take advantage of the tax and still retain the ability to sell him down the road IF needed. But again management screwed up. Not surprising unfortunately.

    A lot of our star players are on cheaper salaries and they will all soon be asking for large increases – Mike isn’t the only one. Thiaw, Tomori, etc..(Theo is even on a cheap deal considering the market). So what is your solution – sell everyone who asks for their market value? Ok so where does that leave us??? Atalanta 2.0. Some offers we cannot refuse I get it, everyone has a price (like Leao for 175M – we would have to sell) – but be careful what you wish for. Don’t think a club like Milan should be run like Atalanta. But that’s my opinion. Some seem cool with that. Sad

    So no – Mike is not trash and he has earned every penny of a renewal and would be doing us a favor by resigning for only 6M season – we CAN afford it as Maldini pointed out without selling – guess we will see what type of club Redbird want us to be – tiles or profit. I think we all know the answer.

  7. If he felt anything for Milan he’d sacrifice salary for the good of building a strong squad. He sees things for what they are – Milan have been turned into a cash cow for Red Bird. No heart in the team, and the few who do have heart will leave as they too realise this.

  8. Clowns really quick to turn on him like it’s his fault our manager keeps playing a football style which exposes us every 5 minutes. Ppl like “he’s conceding more now😭🤡” acting like it has nothing to do with our lack of solid defending within a stupidly overly defensive system. Van Der Sar himself would be suffering in Pioli ball. Calm down, the guy is arguably the best goalkeeper on the planet when fit, and despite what you idiots think, another keeper who can make these saves and is good with his feet will not come easy or cheap. You’re delusional if you think otherwise. Pipe down

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