Marcus Rashford’s proposed move away from Manchester United has been derailed by Kyle Walker announcing his desire to leave Manchester City thanks to a Serie A rule that prevents AC Milan signing both of them.
Rashford wants out of Old Trafford having announced his desire for a “new challenge” last month, but options are thin on the ground thanks to his £300,000 per week wages and his lack of interest in a move to Saudi Arabia or Turkey.
Talks have reportedly been held with Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, while West Ham have been asked to be kept informed and Arsenal made a ‘phone call’ to the Red Devils.
But reports have suggested it’s AC Milan who are most advanced in their bid to sign Rashford, whose brother and agent is said to have flown to Italy for talks this week.
Milan sporting advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic – a former teammate for Rashford’s at Old Trafford – denied this was the case, but is a big fan of the England international.
“I know Rashford very well, I played with him when he was young, now he’s a grown-up and has done great things with Manchester United,” Ibrahimovic said.
“I don’t think I need to convince him, because Milan are one of the biggest clubs in the world and everyone wants to come here.
“As of today, it is not an easy operation, but we have not spoken to him yet. We’ll see if we will speak to him.”
But his move to the Serie A side has been cast into doubt thanks to Guardiola’s bombshell announcement on Saturday that Kyle Walker has asked to leave the club this month.
“Two days ago Kyle asked to explore the options to play abroad,” said Guardiola.
“We cannot understand [what] the club did these years without Kyle. It’s impossible. He’s been our right-back, giving us something we didn’t have. But now in his mind, for many reasons, he would like to explore if he can go to another country to play his last years.”
The Telegraph claim it’s again AC Milan who are leading the race for Walker’s signature; they’re said to be ‘confident’ of securing his transfer despite there being no formal contact between the two clubs as yet.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano revealed on Sunday that there’s also predictable interest from Saudi Arabia.
He wrote on X: ‘Kyle Walker will hear AC Milan proposal as there’s also interest from Saudi Pro League clubs since last summer.
‘Milan are keen on discussing with Walker with hope not to spend any money in transfer fee, if Man City let him leave for free now.’
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Only one of Rashford or Walker can be signed by Milan though as the Serie A side only have one spot for non-EU players available in their squad.
It’s all quite complicated thanks to some rule flip-flopping in recent years, the crux of the matter being that each Serie A club can have two non-EU players registered at any one time and Rashford or Walker would be Milan’s second after Nigerian Samuel Chukwueze.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and others who break this non-EU rule slipped through the net in a grace period ahead of the 2024/2025 season.
