AC Milan decided back in the summer of 2021 that Mike Maignan was the right man to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma, and that decision is paying off in a big way.
Tuttosport (via PianetaMilan) recall how Maignan was bought by Milan for €14.3m from Lille last year and today his market value would be around €55-60m, which is four times his purchase price even if to the Rossoneri he is pretty much priceless.
Maignan is among the top five goalkeepers on the planet as per the paper’s assessment and he could even put pressure on Hugo Lloris – captain and current No.1 goalkeeper for France – from being the starter for the November World Cup in Qatar.
Since joining Milan, ‘Magic Mike’ has brought his innate leadership and has become one of the reference points in the dressing room. He was named the best keeper in the league during the Scudetto season and he remains decisive now, as the saves on Lautaro Martínez and Hakan Çalhanoğlu in the derby earlier this month showed.
The penalty saved against Domenico Berardi in Sassuolo, the stop on Manolo Gabbiadini against Sampdoria on Saturday evening, the list goes on. In short, Milan are holding tight to Maignan who could soon be the best in the world.
IMO only Courtois is better than Magic Mike on the planet.
WE LOVE YOU MIKE!!!
I would also only put Courtois above Maignan.
Mike obviously is better with the ball distribution but Courtois is a great shot stopper who has proven himself time after time vs the best competition and singlehandedly won the most important game of the season , the UCL final.
Both of you must be taking opium, courtouis Is not even better than ederson and Allison.
Mike currently is the best goal keeper in the world, based on saves and stats just like last season, he was also better goalkeeper based on stats but I know he will win the best keeper cos he didn’t win the champions league but clearly like is far better than him in making crazy saves, finding players comfortably and is even far more composed, also in the last three years, Mike have had more penalty saves.
You guys are underrating the guys cos hE IS in Milan, that dude is the current best keeper in the world based on save Ratio.
Underrating? I said only 1 other GK might be better than him. How is that underrating?
When you talk about stats and save ratio You should also take into consideration the quality of league and competition the both keepers play in and against. Serie A is below La Liga and UCL is the highest level of them all.
as far as statistics, there is no denying that Mike, the past 2 years (both in France and last year in Italy), has had the best goalkeeper stats of any keeper in the top 5 leagues.
So it’s a good argument for him; but in the end, there’s got to be some subjectivity too with strength of opponents, etc.
Ederson and Allison sprinkle in some howlers occassionally while Courtois and Mike do not. They are more consistent and make not only great saves but make all of the easy/routine saves without big blunders.
Courtois is actually also really fantastic playing the ball with his feet and in both Chelsea and Man City matches in CL last year, Ancellotti specifically utilized his skills to build out of the back that led to many of their goals. Thierry Henry analyzed that and showed many video clips from those 4 matches in the CBS studios prior to the CL final v Liverpool.
Ederson is excellent with his feet as well — no denying that. Allison is good w/ his feet as well; but not as good as Ederson or Mike or Courtois in my humble opinion.
I’m not on opium 😉
— just a fanatical fan of the sport and while I certainly would never ever deny the greatness of Ederson and Allison, my personal opinion having watched literally every Champions League match those guys played and a majority of Courtois’ La Liga matches and many, many Premier League matches, that is how I feel based on the mistakes I’ve seen those two make in Premier League from time to time.
One other keeper none of us have yet mentioned (who isn’t as great w/ his feet; but he NEVER makes bad mistakes and makes great saves) is Jan Oblak.
Agree @DB.
And at the end of the day all you need from the GK is to save what he can save and most importantly not make mistakes that will cost the team. Every week we see teams lose games because of GK blunders.
Loris Carius cost Liverpool UCL final 5,6 years ago. Donnarumma cost PSG the champions league last year. They were dominating RMadrid until Giggio messed up. And who kept R Madrid in all those games vs Chelsea, PSG, ManCity and Liverpool, Thibous Courtois. All 4 teams were better than RM, dominating them but Courtois saves and RM clinical finishing on the counter won them all those duels and the UCL title at the end when he was named MOTM
Mike is great but it isn’t disrespectful to put him behind Courtois.
Allison was great for a while but he has fallen off in the last year as has Liverpool whole defense
Ederson is very good with his feet and distribution but i think as a shot stopper he isn’t ellite.
Oblak is a great shout.
Neuer is still class too
Absolutely 20&8 — Neuer fantastic. He and his German compatriot Ter Stegen two of the real original guys trailblazing playing with their feet.