AC Milan have once again been left without Mike Maignan for an extended part of the season, leaving Stefano Pioli with a problem in goal.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) write that Maignan’s injury continues to keep him out, as he has not played an official match since mid-September due to two muscle problems that have been keeping him out for almost four months.
As Stefano Pioli has also repeated several times, there are no certainties as to when Maignan will be able to return to the field: “We don’t have timescales, I can’t say today whether it will be in 3, 4 or 5 weeks. Mike has all the our support and he is eager to return but he knows that we have to respect the timing because the muscle does not respond as it should. I can’t say by what date we will have him.”
There is no precise target for his return but the goal would be to have him available again for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Tottenham in mid-February, but it is not excluded that his return could slip further away.
Without Maignan, Ciprian Tatarusanu is guarding the goal. The Romania international has never committed dreadful mistakes, but he has also never given great security either. Despite this, at least in the immediate future, he should still be the starter given that even Antonio Mirante was not able to take advantage of the chances given in the friendlies.
The Rossoneri signed Devis Vasquez, who is giving good signs in the first training sessions, but for the moment he is not yet considered ready to play. We’ll see if the situation will remain this way, or if the hierarchies will change.
