Max-Edgar Chabot Rejects Angers Deal for Manchester City Move

Angers are bracing themselves for another blow in goal. This time, it is not a senior pillar slipping away, but one of their brightest young prospects walking out before he has even signed his first professional contract.

According to Le Parisien, 18-year-old goalkeeper Max-Edgar Chabot has rejected Angers’ offer of a first pro deal and is closing in on a move to Manchester City. Nothing has been signed yet, but an agreement is described as potentially imminent, with the final details expected to be settled in the coming days.

For Angers, it deepens an already awkward summer in the goalkeeping department. Hervé Koffi, outstanding on loan from RC Lens last season, looked the natural long-term solution. His commanding performances made him a fan favourite and a priority target. The problem was the price. Angers simply could not afford to turn the Burkina Faso international’s stay into a permanent transfer.

The club pivoted. With Koffi out of reach, Angers moved for Anthony Lopes, a free agent after the end of his contract at FC Nantes, to stabilise the position. It was a pragmatic decision, a veteran brought in to steady things after a failed pursuit.

Just as that situation seemed under control, another one has flared up behind him. Chabot, schooled at the club and seen internally as one of the most exciting keepers in their system, is now on the verge of leaving before he has even had the chance to grow into the first team.

Manchester City’s interest underlines his reputation. The Premier League champions do not recruit lightly in that position. Chabot has already built a solid youth résumé: he has featured for Angers’ U19 side and was part of France’s U17 squad at last autumn’s U17 World Cup, a stage that often acts as a shop window for Europe’s biggest clubs.

For Angers, losing Koffi and then potentially Chabot in the same summer cuts deep. For City, it looks like another calculated investment in the future of their goalkeeping department.

The next contract Chabot signs now seems unlikely to bear the Angers badge.