Donnarumma, Milan protect themselves: Maignan’s profile

Baby Maignan really told him. “Ibra, you are a striker of m…”. All a joke though. Mike was 17, he trained with the grown-ups and Zlatan slaughtered him. “He always marked me.” Teasing him as well: “Hey, you’re a goalkeeper of m …”. Maignan ties it to his finger, blocks the next shot and responds in style. There and then no reaction, but in the locker room … he gets a nice “good”. Mike revealed it in a nice interview on France Football: “He said he appreciated my personality.” Then nothing more, also because Maignan goes to Lille (2015) and Ibra leaves France for United. Now, however, the two paths could cross again. Milan must undo the Gigio knot, which expires in June 2021, so they are looking around for a possible replacement. In addition to Musso and Gollini, Mike Maignan, Lille’s 25-year-old goalkeeper, is in the sights. The one who years ago raised his head in front of Ibra without fear.

Who is Maignan

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Gold of Lilac and Galtier, 170 games from 2015 to today. In October 2020 he made his international debut against Ukraine (45 ‘in place of Mandanda). Reactive, good at exits, we have already talked about the personality. Maybe too much as a kid. Apparently school was doing badly, too many bad grades, so his old mentor told him to change. “Either you get in line, or you dream of the PSG”. Never, so Mike gets under and earns Parisians. Just him, the enfant prodige born a 10-hour flight from Europe, in French Guiana. At the age of eight he moved to Villiers-le-Bel, a stone’s throw from Paris, and the rest became known.

Gerrard

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Very close to the family: he grew up with his mother, two sisters and stepfather. He never met his father. Before signing with PSG he played in midfield and was crazy about Gerrard. They say his leisure was to kick free-kicks with full force as Steve G did. Sometimes he took the door, at other times the ball disappeared on the horizon. Median by choice and goalkeeper by chance: “We needed a hand …”, he will say. It won’t come out anymore. Although he would have liked to play the audition with PSG as a midfielder. Romain Damiano, one of his first coaches, convinced him to change his mind. “Better in goal, but he scored a lot”. Patience.

Magic Mike

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A life at the PSG. In 2012 he won the U17 championship with Rabiot and Kimpembe, now the owner. A life in the youth squad and no presence in the first team: closed by Sirigu, Areola and Douchez, in 2015 he chose Lille, imposing himself slowly. The first two years he was the deputy of Enyeama, then he took the starting shirt without going out anymore. So instinctive that it earned the nickname “Magic Mike”, like the movie with Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey. His plot is quite different – and fortunately – but the same name. In 2018-19 he keeps a clean sheet 15 times: Lille in the Champions League. This year he has collected 19 goals in 30 games. It feeds on clean sheets. When he climbed the hill to 50, he received a shirt signed by all his teammates. Milan observes and notes. Ibra warms the foot.