Marcus Rashford D-Day arrives with Milan to pick between Man Utd star and Man City icon

Marcus Rashford’s Manchester United future remains uncertain and developments are expected this week as a number of sides continue to show interest in the forward.

The 27-year-old’s brother and agent, Dwaine Maynard, has been speaking to various clubs recently and the Man Utd star is open to a move abroad.

West Ham are the only Premier League club to have shown concrete interest in Rashford this month but sources state that a move to a European club is much more likely.

Maynard is essentially on a whistle-stop tour to several European clubs to find out who the most viable suitors are. We understand that Italian giants AC Milan remain a concrete option for Rashford and they will hold more talks with his camp today.

Milan are also interested in Manchester City star Kyle Walker and due to a new Brexit rule, they can’t sign both players in the same window. It means Walker would need to be pre-agreed for the summer if they chose to loan Rashford and the player agrees.

The fact that Man Utd are open to loaning Rashford for the remainder of the season is attractive to Milan. There is a possibility we could see a similar deal to the one the Red Devils agreed for Jadon Sancho when he was loaned to Borussia Dortmund, another Rashford suitor, when Man Utd agreed to pay a portion of the player’s wages and turned a profit based on performance related add-ons as Dortmund reached the Champions League Final.

If Dortmund move for Rashford this month they will asked for a similar format to the Rashford deal.

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Juventus, Barcelona also keeping tabs on Rashford

TEAMtalk understands that Juventus also kept a close tabs on Rashford’s situation, but have now won the race for Randal Kolo Muani on loan. Unless Dusan Vlahovic leaves, Juve won’t look for another forward. Vlahovic has been linked with Arsenal of late, but it’s understand any Gunners’ approach is very unlikely.

We can also confirm that Barcelona do hold genuine interest in Rashford and the forward would be open to a move to Spain, but there are obstacles to a deal due to the LaLiga side’s ongoing financial problems. The good news for Barca is LaLiga have allowed them to operate in the market in January after increasing their squad cost control limit.

Man Utd somewhat gambled when they sent Sancho on loan to Dortmund by backing Sancho and Dortmund as a team to succeed to make the deal lucrative for them financially.

The Red Devils didn’t receive quite all of the add-ons from that deal i as Dortmund finished outside the top four, but because they reached the Champions League final, they got a lot of the package back, close to £8m in total in loan fee, covered wage and performance bonuses, so were very happy with the situation.

If the opportunity presents itself to do something short-term with Rashford, whether that’s a straight loan, or a loan with an option to buy permanently in the summer, more suitors could emerge for him.

All options are on the table at the moment and although Milan are the club most heavily linked with Rash, we should learn more as the week develops.

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IN FOCUS: How would Rashford fit in at AC Milan?

By Samuel Bannister

One of Rashford’s most insistent suitors, with interest pushed by former teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Milan are still in a state of evolution after replacing head coach Paulo Fonseca with Sergio Conceicao.

Conceicao has been using a 4-3-3 formation so far, compared to the 4-2-3-1 Fonseca was using.

On paper, Milan’s strongest front three has Rafael Leao on the left wing, Alvaro Morata at centre-forward and Christian Pulisic on the right wing.

Although he encountered some issues with Fonseca, Leao is widely regarded as one of Milan’s best players, so if he is fit and firing, he could have the left-wing spot nailed down – forcing Rashford to take Morata’s place as a striker instead.

Rashford and Morata are different types of striker, of course, with the former being a more mobile option and the latter better with his back to goal, so it could depend on what kind of game plan Conceicao wants to deploy against a particular opponent.

Alternatively, Rashford could get his wish of playing on the left wing, but it would be hard to imagine a way for him and Leao to feature in the same team then.

From the wider role, he would likely be tasked with drifting inside to support Morata and benefit from the Spaniard bringing others into play.

There could still be a way for Morata, Leao and Rashford to all feature together, either by Rashford taking Pulisic’s place on the right wing or by Milan changing their shape. Conceicao sometimes used a 4-4-2 when he was in charge of Porto, so if he was to replicate that in his new job, Leao could play on the left and Pulisic on the right, with Rashford supporting Morata up front.

Again, this would enable him to play off Morata, but drifting in between the two roles he can play in, Rashford might be able to get himself in scoring situations.

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