Fikayo Tomori says Tottenham Hotspur transfer target Mike Maignan brings ‘so much calm’ to AC Milan after they progressed to the semi-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The England defender added that his AC Milan side can ‘rely on’ Mike Maignan, who saved a second-half Khvicha Kvaratskhelia penalty, which helped dumped Napoli out of the Champions League.
The seven-time European champions went into their second-leg encounter in Naples with a 1-0 lead, but they watched Olivier Giroud miss an early penalty, before he opened the scoring just before the half-time break, after Rafael Leao’s ‘crazy’ assist.
The soon-to-be Serie A champions tried knocking on the door, but they couldn’t get an answer before Tomori accidentally handled the ball inside the penalty area to provide the opposition with a lifeline.
That’s when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who has been one of the best players in Europe this season, stepped up and watched his spot kick saved by the man in between AC Milan’s stick.
It was another moment of pure brilliance from Maignan because, Victor Osimhen pulled a goal back in stoppage time, so that penalty save was very, very crucial and Fikayo Tomori was full of praise for his teammate, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (18/04/23 at 10:20 pm).
“He brings so much calm to the team,” said Tomori. “He’s such a presence. Even off the pitch, he’s so professional.
“As soon as we are preparing for a game. He is always talking and he is saying ‘maybe we should do this or maybe we should do that’.
“Always organising and always helping. He’s more than a keeper in a way. He gives us so much when we have the ball. He manages to get us forward a lot quicker. Got a great kick and he is very accurate with those.
“When we need him and they get through our defence, he’s got it to make a world-class save, like he did last week against Di Lorenzo late in the game. Having someone like that behind us gives us confidence. We can play a high line, be more aggressive and we can rely on him.”
TOTTENHAM’S INTEREST IN MAIGNAN
Tottenham already have a Frenchman that has proven to be a long-time servant to the club, but it’s time Hugo Lloris headed for the exit door and moved on.
Those at Hotspur Way need a new number one and AC Milan’s thriving keeper has been mentioned as a potential replacement for Lloris.
Whilst it’s understandable that Spurs would be tracking a keeper of Maignan’s quality, it has to be questioned why he would swap the San Siro for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – there are suggestions he could sign a new deal at AC Milan.
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