To borrow Jim Bowen's words, let's see what you could have won, Chelsea.
No speedboat, nor a caravan, but Mike Maignan, the AC Milan goalkeeper with a few more miles on the clock than which Vauxhall Nova the legendary presenter ever teased in an episode of Bullseye.
The experienced Maignan is 30, the French Nr. 1, used to competing in the Champions League with Milan, and was perhaps in goal for Chelsea instead of their Italian opponents on Sunday, negotiations were become smoother two months ago.
Chelsea was given the opportunity to sign Melignan via intermediaries during the special transfer window before the World Cup Club. Although they insisted that they were happy with Robert Sanchez, 27, and his 23-year-old deputy Filip Jorgensen, they have not rejected the idea of closing a deal.
But Milan wanted £ 21 million, while the statistics of Chelsea and the common sense told them that Maignan was worth £ 12.7 million.
He had been on their radar for a long time. In 2023 they followed him at the same time with Andre Onana in Inter Milan and Sanchez in Brighton. But that historical interest blind does not blind them for the fact that Maignan had only a year on his contract. The gap in valuations was too large and so after five days conversations were suspended.
It was speculated that they could return before the end of the summer window if Milan showed the willingness to admit to their asking price. Maignan will also be available on a free transfer next summer if he continues to refuse to sign an extension.
For the time being, however, Chelsea is going to 2025-26 and their last pre-season friendly with Sanchez and Jorenten, the same goalkeeper setup they had for the last campaign.
They have sold Djordje Petrovic to Bournemouth for £ 25 million, Kepa Arsenal to Arsenal for £ 5 million, Marcus Bettinelli to Manchester City for even less, and borrowed Mike Penders, very appreciated at 20 years old, to their sister club Straatstraat in France.
They are the expenses. With regard to income, other positions are prioritized.
When Chelsea signed Jorrel Hato for £ 37 million from Ajax last week, a statistics was distributed in which he was shown their 49th signing, because Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over the club in May 2022. You should go back to Nacer Chadli in 2013 to go Tottenham's equivalent signing, other Herrera in 2014 for Manchester United, and so on.
At that time, Chelsea brought four keepers into Sanchez, Jorenten, Penders and Gabriel Slonina, 21. This summer they continued to strengthen any other part of their team, except in Doel. The obvious question is: Will they live there to regret it?
It is inevitable that at a certain moment the summer approach of Chelsea will be investigated this season if they stay in the goal at Sanchez. He will make a mistake because all keepers do that, especially those who play for teams who are determined to pass from the back.
The distribution has long been the weakness of Sanchez and with every error a collapse of social media will come after the historical heat on the Spaniard.
That is despite the fact that Sanchez improved as last season progressed. Indeed, Chelsea believes it was not for him, they may never have come to the Champions League, and that is hard to deny. Some of his saves were crucial when they finished fourth in the Premier League and then crowned world champions in the summer.
In particular, there was a rescue to deny Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembele from close by in the club's world cup final, who showed what a stop of World Class Sanchez can be. He eventually won the Golden Glove, after he ended with the best savings percentage of every goalkeeper at the tournament with 81.5 percent.
Manager Enzo Maresca is busy enough to tackle a president of 13 days without being excitedly involved in transfers.
He only heard that Chelsea Lesley Ugochukwu had sold to Burnley for a maximum of £ 25 million on Wednesday when a member of his communication team called this for Thursday's press conference. That was on Friday their 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen, in which Jorgensen played the full 90 minutes, with Sanchez expected to have his turn against Milan.
Maresca can use his media options to tell the world what he wants – after Leverkusen he told us that he needed a new center after the ACL injury of Levi Colwill – but he is more a manager waiting to see which signing sessions are secured after giving his two cents.
As it looks now, he will have Sanchez and Jorgensen to choose from, but on Sunday on Sunday, Maignan Chelsea can show what they could have had two months ago.