by Kyle Walker’s exit from Manchester City has been confirmed as Pep Guardiola said the club’s three new arrivals are ready to be involved this weekend.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has not ruled out trying to bring in Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United, whose boss Ruben Amorim has said he is unsure whether Marcus Rashford will leave Old Trafford this month.
Meanwhile, Championship promotion hopes Sheffield United were stunned by the relegation-threatened hull at Bramall Lane, and there was bad news for Welsh clubs’ hopes of competing in Europe.
Walker Out, New City Signings directly
City announced on Friday evening that England right-back Walker had joined AC Milan on loan for the remainder of the season, a deal which includes an option for the Serie A outfit to make the move permanent in the summer.
In an Instagram post, the 34-year-old, who won 17 trophies including six Premier League titles and the Champions League as a City player, thanked his teammates “for the great memories and all the success we shared together” And boss Guardiola “for believing in me and working so hard to get me here in 2017.”
It came after Guardiola confirmed City’s trio of January signings, striker Omar Marmoush and defenders Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov, would go straight into his squad for Saturday’s home clash with Chelsea, saying: they can play but I don’t know (what (what (what (what position) yet.
Garnacho to Chelsea?
Reports have linked Chelsea with Garnacho and representatives of the 20-year-old Argentine winger were present at the Blues’ 3-1 win over Wolves at Stamford Bridge on Monday.
In his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to City, Maresca said of the reports that he was ‘happy with what we have at the moment’, before adding: ‘We are careful ( at the market) if anything can happen.
“But 10 days to go, we didn’t do anything, we just called Trev (Chalobah) back. We will see in the next 10 days if anything will happen. »
Rashford uncertainty
Rashford, who has not played for the team since December 12 and last month, told Rashford, who has not played for the team since December 12 and told reporter Henry Winter that he was ready for a new challenge.
No move has yet materialized for the 27-year-old England striker despite links with AC Milan and Barcelona, and when Amorim left his matchday squad again for the League win Thursday’s Europa League 2-1 win over Rangers, Asked if Rashford would now stay for the rest of the season, he said: “I don’t know.
“I really don’t know. We will see at the end of the window what happened. And then we’ll talk about it at that time. »
Blow for the blades
Sheffield United had the chance to move above Leeds to the top of the Championship table as they hosted a shell side located in the bottom three.
But the visitors cruised to a 3-0 victory, with efforts from Matt Crooks and substitute Matty Jacob added to by a goal from the late Harrison Burrows, who moved Ruben Sells men out of the relegation zone and up to 18th.
Chris Wilder’s Blades remain a point behind Leeds in second and two clear of Burnley, third ahead of those teams, going head-to-head at Turf Moor on Monday.
Welsh reverse
The prospect of Wrexham competing in European competition appears to have increased with UEFA granting a conference league qualifying venue to a new Welsh League Cup, which the Football Association of Wales had wanted all four Welsh clubs to of the EFL are part of.
However, the proposal for the Red Dragons, Cardiff, Swansea and Newport was rejected by the English FA board.
An FA statement sent to the PA news agency on Friday read: “After careful consideration, taking into account various factors, including equal opportunities for clubs to participate in the same competitions, for the same rewards on an equal basis, concerns raised by stakeholders regarding the integrity of the competition, device congestion and player welfare, and the impact on the position of existing competitions, the AF board rejected the request. »
What’s up today?
In addition to the City-Chelsea Clash, Premier League action sees both leaders Liverpool and Arsenal face second-place Ro-Battlers, hosting Ipswich and visiting Wolves respectively, while there is a meeting of two of this season’s most impressive teams at Vitality Stadium as Bournemouth take on Nottingham Forest.
Celtic will look to further strengthen their position at the top of the William Hill Premiership as they entertain Dundee, and Manchester City travel to Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League.
