Marcus Rashford and Kyle Walker are both heavily linked with joining AC Milan – but both England players cannot join the Italian club this January.
Rashford’s career at Manchester United is over with the forward ‘ready for a new challenge’ and not in Ruben Amorim’s plans.
Walker meanwhile has asked to leave Manchester City amid his struggling form, with Pep Guardiola suggesting he has has played his last game for the club.
Despite both enduring a difficult season so far, there is much interest in the pair and Milan are said to be leading the race for the two Three Lions stars, with Rashford likely to leave on loan and Walker permanently, perhaps on a free transfer.
However, both players will not be heading to the San Siro this month as a little-known rule means Milan will have to choose one or the other to sign.
Why can’t AC Milan sign both Marcus Rashford and Kyle Walker?
Serie A rules dictate that a club may only sign two non-EU players every season and Milan have already filled their quota for 2024/25.
In last summer’s transfer window they bought Strahinja Pavlovic (Serbia) from Red Bull Salzburg and Emerson Royal (Brazil) from Tottenham.
England striker Tammy Abraham was also signed on loan but as he joined from fellow Serie A side Roma he is exempt from the non-EU player rule.
They are however allowed to bring in a third player from outside the European Union providing they come from the UK or Albania.
As a result, only one of Rashford or Walker can join Milan in January. If they want both, they’ll have to wait until this summer’s transfer window to open.
Will AC Milan sign Marcus Rashford or Kyle Walker?
According to Sky Italia, Rashford is the player Milan are more interested in at this time and are expected to make an approach for the 27-year-old very soon.
Yet, the United man would be the more difficult transfer to pull off, not least because of the huge interest in him, with Arsenal, West Ham, Borussia Dortmund and Monaco just a few of the teams keen on acquiring his services.
Who will AC Milan sign this January?
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Marcus Rashford
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Kyle Walker
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Neither
Moreover, whoever wants Rashford will have to pay some part of his £325,000-a-week wages which will prove to be a huge stumbling block.
Walker meanwhile has 18 months left on his £175,000-a-week contract and also has admirers around Europe and the Saudi Pro League.
Legendary United and Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now an advisor to the Italian side, recently spoke out about the links to Rashford: ‘I know him very well, I played with him when he was young, he is now an adult and established.
‘He did great things with United and today that is his club. How to convince him? Milan is one of the biggest clubs in the world, everyone wants to play here.
‘This is a difficult operation, we’ll see if we can talk to him.’
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