Latest: Chelsea and AC Milan stand off over €5m – 3 top pundits all report different stories Maignan | OneFootball

You know you’ve reached the critical stage of a transfer when you’re getting multiple updates every day from all of the top sources in the game.

Claim and counter claim in Maignan chase

Chelsea will need to up their Mike Maignan offer according to Gianluca di Marzio.

This morning, the Gazzetta dello Sport said Chelsea had agreed a deal for AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan at €18m.

However, subsequently there’s been big pushback against that from a number of sources. Gianluca Di Marzio was the most forthright, saying that a €15m offer from the Blues had been rejected, and that it would take €20m to “unblock” the operation.

Chelsea journalists have now weighed in too – Ben Jacobs says that the club have “made their €15m valuation clear”, implying they won’t go any higher than that. Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol makes it even more clear, saying the Blues “have let it be known they are prepared to pay AC Milan a maximum €15m (£12.6m) for Mike Maignan.”

On the one hand, this deal feels really close, with not much difference between the valuations. On the other hand, it feels like both teams are drawing a line in the sand in terms of the transfer fee.

Chelsea can’t let amazing opportunity fall away over small money

We’ve made our views on the Maignan deal very clear at this point – he’s a really good, really experienced player in a position we need an upgrade in. He’s also a leader and a winner and a player who would be an ideal addition to the dressing room.

To miss out on him over a few million euros would be totally crazy given how many hundreds of them we’ve splashed around the last few years. If this falls apart now, this is a terrible look for those in charge.