Erik ten Hag is beginning to doubt whether Andre Onana is the answer at Manchester United, and they, Chelsea and two European giants are hunting a €70m-rated Frenchman whose contract talks have hit a brick wall, per a report.
Onana cost £43.8m prior to add-ons when plucked from Inter Milan over the summer. The Cameroon international, 27, was a known commodity to Erik ten Hag through their time together at Ajax.
But it was with Inter where Onana truly rose to prominence, with the keeper working wonders when helping the Italian giant advance to last year’s Champions League final.
Once Ten Hag elected to allow David de Gea leave as a free agent, a new stopper was required. The Dutch boss favoured a keeper who could make an impact with his feet as well as hands and Onana was the player he put his faith in.
But while Onana has added a new element to United’s attempts to play out from the back, a series of high profile handling errors have cost his new club dearly.
Blunders in both the Premier League and Champions League have hurt, with United bottom of their UCL group heading into matchday six.
Ten Hag has publicly backed his underfire stopper and even pointed to certain statistics that suggest Onana’s spell hasn’t been the disaster many suggest it’s been.
“Players always need trust,” said Ten Hag before the weekend (as quoted by The Daily Mail). “After Alisson, he is the best stopper in the league for preventing expected goals.
“So then you deserve to play. He has the potential, so we have to work on him so that he does it consistently. We will work with him and we will support him. The manager, coaches and players all support him.”
However, according to a bombshell report out of France, Ten Hag’s p[private views differ from those he’s putting forward in public.
FootMercato state Ten Hag ‘is not convinced by Andre Onana’ and the report puts Man Utd among four heavyweight clubs now monitoring Mike Maignan.
Chelsea will provide stiff competition for the AC Milan and France ace from within the Premier League. From further afield, Bayern Munich and PSG are namechecked as confirmed admirers.
Is Maignan actually available?
Regarding whether a move for the €70m-rated stopper is actually viable, FootMercato are keen to point out Maignan is happy at Milan who are also happy with the player.
There’s a twist in the tale, however, with FootMercato highlighting the fact talks over a new and improved contract extension have run aground.
Maignan reportedly wishes to be paid a salary that ‘correlates with that of a world-class goalkeeper’.
He and his camp will argue he deserves it, with Maignan earning the award for Serie A’s best goalkeeper in Milan’s title-winning campaign in 2021/22.
The 28-year-old has also cemented himself as France’s regular starter following Hugo Lloris’ retirement from international football after the Qatar World Cup.
However, despite talks taking place since the spring, progress hasn’t been made and if Milan bow out of the Champions League at the group stage, a breakthrough is highly unlikely.
Milan currently sit bottom of Group F that also contains PSG, Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle. Failure to advance and reach the quarter-final stages could reportedly cost Milan €113m.
Without that financial injection Maignan is unlikely to get the colossal pay rise he’s requested. That will open the door to a potential exit, with Man Utd, Chelsea, PSG and Bayern all lurking.
It’s important to note Maignan’s current deal doesn’t expire until 2026, meaning Milan will still be in a relatively strong position to extract maximum value if a new contract goes unsigned.
