Mike Maignan has been a crucial player ever since he arrived at AC Milan and after becoming the No.1 goalkeeper for France, he has been just as important for them. This was highlighted once again last time out.
Maignan played the entire game against Ireland and his side prevailed 2-0, keeping yet another clean sheet. It was the goalkeeper’s fifth consecutive clean sheer and that hasn’t happened since 2007, as per France’s official Twitter.
It’s not like the Milan man is getting all the protection from his defender either, as evidenced by a very sweaty save towards the end of the Ireland clash (see video below). Indeed, he’s now one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
👊 Strong hands, as always, from @mmseize. pic.twitter.com/uX0yDB2Iez
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) September 9, 2023
He will not feature in the friendly game against Germano on Tuesday as he underwent some therapy in the gym yesterday. It’s nothing serious and he will certainly be available for the derby against Inter on Saturday evening.
Thanks to Moncada :
– We lose G. Donnarumma, but we got the improvement at GK with Maignan, which is now among the best GK in the world.
– We lose Kessie & Tonali, but we got Loftus-Cheeks & Reijnders, which is also look like improvement in term of tactically & technically.
– We lose Romagnoli, but we got many worldclass CBs now, the newest is Thiaw.
This Moncada is really good at scouting, he has all information and can make very precise comparison and fit the team’s need.
Well said Alex. We are just experiencing the real Milan team for so many years. The coach having a say in the characteristics of players is also proving to be key factor.
Maignan is an example of how a coach having a say in the characteriatics of player. This is what was said by Pioli:
“Mike, I didn’t know him before playing against Lille in the Europa League. They beat us 3-0 at home (in the group stage, in 2020-2021), and at the end of the game I tell my goalkeeping coach, ‘That one, you have to follow him.’ His communication and presence in the game impressed me.”
Maignan is not thanks to Moncada. You should thank Pioli for him. Pioli got interested in Maignan after the latter played for Lille against Milan. Moncada is not the one who discover him, it was Pioli himself.
sempremilan(.)com/pioli-admiration-maignan-goalkeeper-coach
There has been an article mentioning moncada scouting him and the mere fact that moncada was a scout in monaco and has an extenssive scouting network im pretty confident to say that moncada was well aware of maignan severa years before pioli because he came up through psg’s ranks before joining lille.
So who do you think is lying?
• Pioli who claimed that he was the one who got interested in Maignan and told the GK coach to monitor him.
OR
• The article that claimed Maignan was the result of Moncada’s scouting
I don’t doubt that Moncada and his scout had scouted Maignan before but the scouting report never made it to Pioli before Pioli himself got impressed by Maignan during Lille vs Milan. Furthermore, Pioli asked the GK coach to monitor Maignan, he didn’t ask Moncada so I believe Maignan was named by Pioli in direct transfer request to Maldini (the letter might consulted Moncada before approving Pioli’s request).
Im not doubting piolis comment i just doubt that moncada wasnt already well aware of maignan several years before because he had also gotten his ligue 1 debut in 16-17 or something but sure you also aknowledge that so it isnt really like we disagree here. In the end though milan wasnt really on the lookout for a starter untill towards the end of the season when it became apparent that renewing donnarumma had become a farce and then maldini made the choice to sign him.
I don’t doubt Moncada might have been “looking at him” like he does 100s of others. The credit of the work comes when a recommendation is made and acted upon until signing. Otherwise it’s what ifs.. Based on what Pioli said as Yelnats has written, it seems Pioli was the initiator. The real problem I’m having these days it’s the constant hyping of the management team. It’s very off-putting. The season is only 3 games old. We can get thrown off that pedastal after the derby for all we know. Also analytics isn’t anything special, most clubs use it.
Me and Yelnats24 doesnt really disagree much here and neither do we but sure if we lose against inter this weekend people could easily turn on a plate and then praise turns into complaints. I think the same could be said if we actually started to field all those primavera players as starters as some suggests around here and in the invent they play badly same people will quickly turn their backs on those players and condemn them.
Thsi is so true Alex 😁but also don’t forget thanks to Moncada we also got:
– CDK
– Origi
-Vranckx
– Fode
– Adli
🙂🙂🙂
and are the world class CBs in the room with us right now?
One of them is still at Milan, the other one had already left.
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(The one still at Milan is Baresi, the one already left is Maldini) 😉