Chelsea attempted to sign AC Milan keeper Mike Maignan earlier in the window as they tried to upgrade on Robert Sanchez, with a report sharing the Blues’ fresh stance over signing a new shot-stopper.
Enzo Maresca started with Sanchez during Chelsea’s eventual 5-1 hammering of West Ham at the London Stadium on Friday, and it wasn’t exactly a perfect game for the Spaniard, who conceded an early goal to Lucas Paqueta before the Blues floodgates opened.
Maresca’s side eventually ran riot in east London, putting an abject Hammers team to the sword, with Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernández, Moises Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah all getting on the scoresheet in a routine win.
Chelsea’s imperious attacking play and overall dominance perhaps spared Sanchez’s blushes, who perhaps could’ve been better positioned to claw away Paqueta’s superb long-range strike inside 10 minutes.
In June, Maignan was seen as their desired alternative to Sanchez, and the France number one was pushing to make the move to Stamford Bridge at one point.
However, both Milan and Chelsea couldn’t agree on his final asking price, which was rumoured to be around £25 million. BlueCo saw that figure as a bit steep considering Maignan has just one year left on his deal (Sky Sports), with £10m seen to be a more realistic valuation from their perspective.
Given the 29-year-old’s pedigree as one of world football’s most elite keepers, there is a case to be made that £25m for a player of his calibre/experience is 100 per cent worth the punt – regardless of his contractual situation.
Chelsea stance on Robert Sanchez as Mike Maignan deal odds revealed
According to journalist Simon Phillips, though, the odds of going back in for Maignan at this stage are unlikely – as Chelsea are currently adopting a ‘sell-to-buy’ policy due to their complex settlement with UEFA.
Any deal for a new goalkeeper or centre-back would require an outgoing, and one from one of their Conference League-winning squad last season.
“For goalkeeper, as I’ve explained a few times now, it’s very complex and there are many reasons as to why so far they haven’t signed a new keeper or gone back in for Mike Maignan,” said Phillips, via his Substack.
“I’m not fully ruling it out, but it would need one of Robert Sanchez or Filip Jorgensen to be sold, and that’s now hugely unlikely unless a late surprise.
“There’s still some very slight hope, but the likelihood is now that Chelsea aren’t going to sign a new goalkeeper or a new centre back. But don’t believe reports that claim they are ‘happy’ with what they’ve got. Enzo Maresca certainly isn’t.
“It is true that Robert Sanchez has impressed them a lot more lately. But they literally tried to sign Mike Maignan this summer, as well as Dean Huijsen. So they absolutely wanted to improve both positions this summer. FIFA and our own odd priorities are now making that unlikely.”
It appears as if Sanchez will continue to be the go-to, and perhaps there is time for the keeper, who’s still very young for players in that position, to mature and come good on a consistent enough basis.