Marcus Rashford Man Utd exit hampered by Serie A rule amid Fabrizio Romano Man City update

Italian heavyweights AC Milan have backed out of the race to sign wantaway Manchester United attacker Marcus Rashford this January.

Sky Sports News claimed earlier in the window that the 19-time Italian champions were keen to bring the England international to the San Siro in a bid to rejuvenate their attacking options after a substandard start to the Serie A season. Rashford remains Manchester United’s third top scorer in the Premier League this season with four goals from 15 appearances despite failing to make the starting line-up for seven consecutive matches.

The 27-year-old was a surprise omission for Manchester United’s 2-1 derby-day victory over reigning champions Manchester City in mid-December and told reporter Henry Winter after the game that he was seeking a new chapter away from his boyhood team after a 20-year association with the club.

"For me, personally, I think I'm ready for a new challenge and the next steps,” said Rashford. "When I leave it's going to be 'no hard feelings'. If I know that a situation is already bad I'm not going to make it worse. I've seen how other players have left in the past and I don't want to be that person. When I leave I'll make a statement and it will be from me."

Rashford scored two goals on both his first-team and European debut against Midtjylland in the UEFA Europa League in February 2016 and rapidly became one of the team’s most important players under the likes of Louis Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunner Solskjaer, Ralf Ragnick and most recently Erik ten Hag.

While at times inconsistent, Rashford has been one of the team’s best performers in the post Fergie era and his tally of 87 goals makes him the club’s eighth highest scorer in the Premier League era while also being the team’s ninth highest assist maker in the competition with 39. However, he now faces an uncertain future at Old Trafford after being frozen out of the first team squad entirely by Ruben Amorim.

AC Milan back out of Marcus Rashford deal

Fabrizio Romano has reported that AC Milan have now officially distanced themselves from the race to sign Marcus Rashford as they instead turned their attention to wantaway Manchester City captain Kyle Walker.

Walker expressed a desire to leave City this month and is actively seeking a new challenge. Romano explained on his YouTube channel: “AC Milan decided to sign Kyle Walker from Manchester City. They are completing that agreement. And so it means that they can only sign one English player per season. And in this case it's going to be Walker, not Rashford.”

The Italian adds: “Two clubs remain in the race at the moment. One is Borussia Dortmund. They need wingers on the market. But also Barcelona. Barcelona have an interest in Marcus Rashford. But it really depends on what happens with Ansu Fati exit. But more contacts are expected for Barcelona and for Borussia Dortmund in the next days to understand the loan deal conditions for Marcus Rashford.”