Negotiations for the United striker stop: Conceiçao likes the Portuguese and would allow the arrival of the English defender
Marcus Rashford is not just a name, but a true ideal. What does it mean? That in January Milan dreams of a great attack in attack, with methods similar to those reported in recent days for the Manchester United star, even if in the end it wasn’t him who landed in Milan. In fact, the Rossoneri transfer men are still awaiting a definitive response from the Red Devils to the offer presented by Giorgio Furlani to his counterpart Berrada a few days ago. At the same time, Rashford’s entourage (present in the stands at Old Trafford yesterday to watch his current teammates in the match against Southampton) expected a further acceleration in the negotiations which, at the moment, has not occurred. Milan is aware of the strong competition from Barcelona and the general complexity of the deal, so much so that they are also evaluating a great alternative, again from the Premier League: Joao Felix of Chelsea.
Appreciation
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Portuguese, born in 1999, in the summer he was purchased by the Blues who paid him 52.5 million euros to Atletico Madrid. In London, however, Joao Felix didn’t find much space with Maresca and now Chelsea are thinking of placing him elsewhere. The hope is to sell it outright, but as the end of the transfer window approaches, the loan option becomes the most feasible. And here Milan can be inserted, perhaps proposing the right of redemption formula, which with Rashford is decidedly more complicated. The former Benfica player’s salary, in fact, is more accessible than that of the United striker: 5.7 million euros, bonuses included, compared to over 13 for the Englishman. But above all, Joao Felix is a name that Sergio Conceiçao likes (a lot). So much so that he is clearly at the top of the manager’s preferences should the Rashford option fade away.
Bank
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The talented Blues player and the new Milan coach, then, not only have their homeland in common, but also their agent, the very powerful Jorge Mendes. Someone used to making the impossible possible on the market. It is no coincidence that since Conceiçao arrived on the Rossoneri bench, several names from the Portuguese agent’s team for Milan have begun to circulate. From Trincao to Samu Costa and Reyna, just to name a few. Normal dynamics. The one who teases the most, however, is Joao Felix. Which is also an ideal profile for the RedBird vision of the transfer market: still young (he has just turned 25), of very high quality, coming out under favorable conditions, but having to be relaunched after years that were certainly not up to his expectations class and early career expectations. A bit like what happened with another player who landed in Milan from Chelsea, Christian Pulisic who with the Rossoneri returned to the glories of his past at Borussia Dortmund. Milan’s hope is to repeat something similar with Joao Felix. But while the purchase of Captain America in the summer of 2023 – one of the first operations brilliantly completed by Giorgio Furlani as Rossoneri CEO – was immediately and definitively possible, in this case the initial approach can only be a loan request. Even if Mendes’s long arm could also favor an option on the future or lead to more complex formulas (starting with the payment of the salary between now and the end of June), should things go well in the event of his arrival in Milan. Conceiçao himself is convinced of this, seeing in the young compatriot a multi-purpose attacker, capable of playing every role up front (playmaker, winger, second striker and false nine) and with enormous potential, not always expressed in recent years.
Waiting Walker
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Clearly Milan will also have to make room in the list with some transfers (we talk about this elsewhere). But the fate of another star who would be happy to wear the Rossoneri shirt will also depend on who arrives in attack: Kyle Walker. The Manchester City veteran is English like Rashford and, as we have explained several times in the last week, Serie A clubs – after the new FIGC regulations last May – can register only one British player from abroad per season. Come on, if in the end it was Rashford who landed in Milan, there wouldn’t be a plane ticket for Walker. But if, instead, tired of the push and pull for the United striker, in via Aldo Rossi they turn decisively towards Joao Felix, then Walker would become the Englishman who can be added to the squad in 2024-25. Like Joao Felix, a versatile player due to his ability to cover multiple positions in his department: from the natural one of right-back, in which he stood out for most of his career, to the more central one, as an assistant in a three-man rearguard or from central to four.
Two better than one
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The alternative to Rashford, therefore, would allow Milan not one, but two big market coups from the Premier League. Joao Felix in attack and Walker in defense. Two famous names, who would make the fans digest well even the possible non-arrival of the United striker, the Rossoneri’s first big goal of January. What did that advert say? Two is better than one. Yes, perhaps two will be better than one even at Milan.
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