Chelsea held talks with AC Milan over a possible deal for Mike Maignan earlier this summer and he was serenaded by Blues fans during a friendly match between the two clubs
Mischievous Chelsea fans teased Mike Maignan with a cheeky chant during Sunday’s 4-1 friendly win over the French goalkeeper’s AC Milan side at Stamford Bridge.
Maignan, 30, emerged as a surprise transfer target for the Blues earlier this summer and talks over a potential deal were even held before Enzo Maresca and his team jetted off to the United States to compete in the Club World Cup, which they went on to win.
Talks over a deal collapsed, though, and it has since been reported that Chelsea are content with their keeper options.
And Chelsea fans threw their backing behind Robert Sanchez when Maignan and AC Milan played them on Sunday by chanting: “You’re just a s*** Robert Sanchez” at the opposition’s goalkeeper.
Sanchez ended the 2024-25 campaign as Chelsea’s first-choice keeper and is expected to start the new season as Maresca’s No 1.
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The Blues also have Filip Jorgensen and Mike Penders on their books, with the latter highly-rated and currently on loan at Strasbourg for the season.
It was Sanchez who started in between the sticks on an afternoon to forget for Maignan and the Italian giants, with Chelsea going on to win their final warm-up match ahead of the new Premier League season 4-1.
Goals from Joao Pedro and a brace from the Blues other new striker, Liam Delap, added to an eighth minute own goal from Andrei Coubis. Yousouff Fofana scored a consolation for Milan in the second half.
Chelsea will be hoping to improve on last season’s fourth-place finish after performing so well at the Club World Cup. And Maresca reckons his side are in rude health ahead of their season opener against Crystal Palace next Sunday.
“I think the performance was very, very, very good until the red card,’ the Italian said. “We started the way we wanted to start, intense and with a high tempo on and off the ball.
“The red card changed a little bit the game but it’s also normal [that the energy dropped a little] as Milan started pre-season on 4 July, 40 days ago, and this was their sixth friendly game.
“For us, it’s our second one. But overall, I’m very happy and now we start the Premier League.”
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