Why AC Milan could struggle with second attempt to sign €18m midfielder, plus Crystal Palace in the chase | OneFootball

Our writer Simon Phillips is killing it with top exclusives recently, and yesterday was no exception.

He came in hot with lots of fresh details on his Substack on a move that has been rumoured for a long, long time, involving Carney Chukwuemeka going to AC Milan.

The midfielder looked like he was going to have a real breakout at Chelsea a year ago, but a injury ruled him out for an extended period and by the time he was back he was out of time to earn a place in Mauricio Pochettino’s team.

This summer he went on the preseason tour, but never really looked to have a solid chance of winning Enzo Maresca over, especially once more new signings started to arrive. There were strong attempts made to shift him before the window closed, but he ended up staying and is now wasting another season without getting on the pitch.

Carney Chukwuemeka surges through midfield. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Options will open up in January – with Premier League move still on the cards

A move to a top team like AC Milan must grow more and more tempting for him. Phillips reports that we got loan offers for Chukwuemeka in the summer, but held firm because we only wanted to consider a permanent sale. That clearly ended up backfiring to a degree, as even a loan would be better than him sitting around doing nothing on our books.

At one point a move to Crystal Palace was apparently considered, and we can certainly see that being revived if they’re still interested.

Phillips has said his “sources have heard that AC Milan still want to sign Carney” – although we have doubts about how easy the deal will be to pull off. In Paolo Fonseca the Rossoneri have a manager under pressure who they might be reluctant to back too heavily, and are not the richest outfit around at the moment. It may prove difficult to get a good fee out of the Serie A giants this winter.