AC Milan close in on Rasmus Højlund loan deal with Manchester United
AC Milan are making significant progress in their pursuit of Manchester United striker Rasmus Højlund, with negotiations between the two clubs and the player's representatives moving forward at pace.
According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, talks are ongoing on the player's side to discuss Milan's project, with Højlund reportedly open to the idea of joining the Serie A giants. The Danish forward, who joined Manchester United in the summer of 2023 from Atalanta, has endured a mixed spell at Old Trafford and could be set for a return to Italy.
The deal being discussed involves a €6 million loan fee for the 2025/26 season, with AC Milan also agreeing to cover the player's full salary during his time at the San Siro. Crucially, the agreement would include a €45 million buy option clause, giving Milan the opportunity to make the move permanent should Højlund impress during his stint in Italy.
This potential transfer could be mutually beneficial for all parties. Milan are seeking to strengthen their attacking options following inconsistencies in front of goal last season, and Højlund's pace, physicality, and finishing ability fit the profile the Rossoneri are targeting. For Manchester United, the move could provide financial flexibility and allow them to reinvest in other areas of the squad while giving Højlund a fresh environment to rediscover his best form.
Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Ravi kumar jha is an undergraduate student in Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia and Mass Communication. A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication and he also has a genuine interest in sports. Ravi is currently working as a journalist at Businessupturn.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
18 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Hannah Seabert makes five saves in Angel City's scoreless draw with Utah
The last place Utah Royals were held scoreless at home by 11th-place Angel City on Friday night. The game was a meeting between the NWSL's two least in-form teams. The Royals are winless in their last 11 and Angel City has not won in their last eight. The closest the visitors came to scoring was when Angel City midfielder Kennedy Fuller clipped the top of the crossbar from a long-range shot in the 54th minute. The Royals outshot Angel City 14-10 and had more shots on goal, 5-2. Utah's two best chances came from set pieces in the first half. Royals forward Mina Tanaka failed to score with a header from six yards out on both occasions. Angel City starting goalkeeper Angelina Anderson didn't play because of a lower leg injury. Danish goalkeeper Hannah Seabert made her NWSL debut in her place. She recorded five saves and a clean sheet. The tie keeps the Royals (1-11-4) in last place in the NWSL, now one point behind the Chicago Stars in 13th. Angel City (4-7-5) is still winless under Alex Straus, tying three and losing three since he took over as head coach in June.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Big signings, long empty weeks and a happy(ish) ending: The last time Man Utd weren't in Europe
Manchester United's club photographer caught the eye of their new manager Louis van Gaal. United had just defeated European champions Real Madrid 3-1 in front of a 109,318 crowd in Ann Arbor, Michigan — still the largest crowd to watch a soccer game in the United States. 'Thanks for giving us our club back,' said the snapper, who'd been at the club since 1993 and had known almost complete success for two decades until Sir Alex Ferguson retired the previous summer and was replaced with Everton manager David Moyes. Advertisement 'Thanks, but I've done nothing yet,' replied the Dutchman. The moment came during the pre-season of 2014, when United won six and drew one of their matches, scoring 18 goals. New signings Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw looked the business, and it didn't seem to matter that Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand had all left the previous month. Van Gaal seemed to be the solution and all was good to go, despite the lack of European football after a seventh-place finish under Moyes and interim manager Ryan Giggs — the club's worst since 1990. And Manchester City, champions for a second time in three years, needed knocking off their perch. That 2014-15 campaign was the last time United did not play European football — indeed, they only had 44 competitive matches the whole season. Expect a similar number this term — and boy, how those weeks could drag. United played 59 times in 2024-25 but this time could have only one game at Old Trafford between October 4 and November 22. Despite this sobering thought, optimism is high right now. In 2014, those shiny bubbles of optimism burst when Swansea City won both sides' opening Premier League match, 2-1, at Old Trafford. United drew the second league game, 1-1 away to Sunderland, and also the third, 0-0 at Burnley. In between the latter two outings, third-division MK Dons hammered Van Gaal's team 4-0 in the League Cup — a competition which could have filled more than a few gaps in the schedule. Former United captain Bryan Robson's assertion from the June that, 'Everyone keeps saying it needs to be a major rebuild — I just don't see it like that' was being tested. In this increasingly surreal situation, United panicked. Marcos Rojo was signed from Sporting CP on August 20, and his Argentine compatriot Angel Di Maria arrived from Real Madrid six days later for a considerable £59.7million fee. And Van Gaal wanted more. 'The rumours were heavy, so at one point we asked him (Van Gaal) directly if he wanted me,' Dutch defender Daley Blind tells The Athletic. 'He said he was fine with his squad and the season had started — and that was fine as I was at Ajax. Then United lost 4-0 against a third division team, and I got a call asking me to join. I was happy to join and play in the Premier League.' Advertisement When Monaco striker Radamel Falcao signed on a season-long loan on September 1, the mood was euphoric. Van Gaal had given every player he'd inherited a chance, making his assessments before the end of the transfer window so that United had time to act to avoid another disastrous season. Shinji Kagawa departed towards the end of that window, Danny Welbeck too and, after an international break in early September, it felt like United's season would be starting again two weeks later at home to Queens Park Rangers, with the window closed. Darren Fletcher, who in the close-season had said that it would be 'a dangerous mindset' to target fourth place and that United would 'be going out to win the league', wouldn't spend another summer as a United player. 'Drastic action was needed,' tweeted Keith Gillespie, a former player for the club. 'Pursuing the path United was on was death by a 1,000 cuts. Quality of competing clubs was way better. We're back…' 'Radamel Falcao. Angel Di Maria. Marcos Rojo. Daley Blind,' gushed one giddy writer, whose name escapes me, in the United We Stand fanzine. 'Read those names again. You're not playing Football Manager: this is real life. It actually happened. They all play for MUFC.' Such signings helped ease the pain of United's absence from the Champions League group-stage draw late that August and without any continental games to focus on, the Premier League became the focus (and we are shortly due for a repeat). United had enjoyed European football from the middle of September every year since English clubs were readmitted to the UEFA competitions in 1990. Their fans were so used to being in the Champions League, they mocked arch-rivals Liverpool when they were in the inferior, second-tier Europa League. And then there was none. But there was signing-induced euphoria, which felt justified as United won 4-0 against QPR — 'Queens Park Rogers' as Falcao called them on Twitter. The Colombian didn't even start that one, but Ed Woodward, chief orchestrator of the huge summer transfer deals, left his seat in the directors' box smiling. He'd seen Di Maria stand out in United's first decent performance of the season. Advertisement Their next game was at Leicester City, rather than Germany's Bayer Leverkusen at that point of the previous season; £30 tickets for the away end at King Power Stadium were going for £250 and United were two up inside 16 minutes – Robin van Persie and Di Maria. Yet Van Gaal's side were punished for their inability to retain possession and control the game when they twice had a two-goal lead thanks to some sublime attacking football. A four-goal capitulation in 22 second-half minutes smashed the burgeoning confidence that followed the QPR victory. The home fans sang: 'We want six!' Leicester's club secretary claimed it was the best game in the 12-year-old stadium's history, while the walls of the away dressing room were privy to one of the angriest ever post-match managerial rants. 'It's true, we're a team in transition,' one mate messaged. 'From bad to worse.' 'It was a good meeting,' said striker Van Persie of the post-Leicester dressing room summit. 'Everyone spoke up and shared their feelings.' Van Gaal's record after six games read: played six, won one, drawn two, lost three. The previous season, Moyes had seen his team win four, draw one and lose one — against Liverpool. Unlike under the Scot, United were gifted with as easy a start to the league campaign as they could have hoped for, with games against all three promoted sides in the first five matches. Still, the mood was positive as the fans adopted something unfamiliar: a need to be patient. Van Gaal said it would be 100 days before we would see evidence of him in charge. Yeah, three months was doable, and it was correct as Van Gaal's side became more pragmatic. With Blind shielding the defence, United lost one of their next 15. Arsenal were beaten away, Liverpool 3-0 at home, as the team rose from 12th to third by New Year's Day, when attention could finally turn to a non-Premier League competition. The upturn in form helped in those long weeks between games. January 2015 saw Fletcher, Wilfried Zaha and Anderson all leave; a month when the FA Cup became a welcome distraction and draws were favourable: Yeovil Town and Cambridge United away – then at home to the latter, since they got a goalless draw. Preston North End away saw a 5,000-ticket allocation and a 3-1 win. But then, in the quarter-finals, Arsenal inflicted a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford to end the run. Compensation of a sort came as the excellent form continued in the league. Between January 17 and a 4-2 win in the Manchester derby on April 12, United won nine, drew one and lost one, moving to within a point of second-placed Arsenal. Imagine if they had started the season well! Chelsea were eight points ahead. That became 11 when they defeated United 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on April 18. A 3-0 defeat at Everton and a 1-0 home loss to West Bromwich Albion made it three losses on the bounce, with seven dreary days between each match to pick over the negatives. United won only one of their final six league games but — something which would be more than acceptable this season — a fourth-place finish got them into a Champions League qualification play-off, which they won to return to the group stage. Advertisement It was a season of mixed feelings. Di Maria only scored three league goals. 'This might surprise you, but Angel Di Maria was one of the best players I've ever seen,' then United centre-back Chris Smalling tells The Athletic. 'It ended sourly, but when he first signed, he looked incredible. He did it on the field at the start, too — he chipped a goal at Leicester and I thought he would take us to the next level. All of us watched him and thought: 'We just need to get him the ball and he'll do something special'. It's a shame it ended for him so quickly at Old Trafford, that he's considered a flop, because he's a great player.' Falcao, who averaged over 30 goals in each of his previous four full seasons with Porto, Atletico Madrid and then Monaco, produced four. Smalling liked him too: 'Radamel Falcao is one of the nicest guys I've ever come across. He spoke good English, he was friendly. He spoke to everyone at the training ground. We all really wanted him to do well and he had a frightening goalscoring record, but he arrived after a big injury (an ACL tear the previous January) and it didn't happen for him. 'Sometimes when things don't work out, the players are largely to blame and you don't feel sorry for them. Falcao was different. He just couldn't deliver because of what had come before. A year later, he was scoring again for Monaco (30 goals in 2016-17).' Van Gaal famously said: 'Together, I'm sure we will make history', when Falcao signed. Time proved him wrong. The guy had a system but came to the worryingly familiar conclusion that he didn't have the players to play it. He lasted two seasons, but United managed to qualify for Europe in both, and in every one since… until the one just gone. That could yet be a blessing in disguise for a United team also in transition — hopefully not from bad to worse. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Mikel Arteta, pressure and a season that will define his time at Arsenal
Is this the year Mikel Arteta finally strikes gold? The season, which starts away to Manchester United on Sunday, will be the Arsenal manager's fifth full campaign at the helm, his sixth in charge of the club overall. In each of the past three seasons, Arsenal have been title contenders, finishing as runners-up on each occasion. After the year that might have been, the year that nearly was, and the year that perhaps ought to have been, will this be the year in which they end their wait for a major trophy? Advertisement 'You keep digging, digging, digging, and you have to be digging, because, one day, the gold is going to be there,' Arteta told his first pre-match press conference of the campaign on Friday afternoon. The Spaniard has won silverware as Arsenal boss — the FA Cup in 2020, having been appointed the previous December — but it is now 21 years since the club's most recent league title, and 31 since they lifted a European trophy. Their gaze is now set upon the very top of football's ladder. Winning another domestic cup next spring would make for a side quest, but it's the Premier League and Champions League which are of paramount importance. The level of expectation around the club and their unconsummated progress during his reign has inevitably led to the suggestion that Arteta now finds himself under pressure. Thus far, he has welcomed the scrutiny. 'Pressure, I think, is a great word, and I think that means that there is belief in our ability to achieve what we want to achieve,' said the 43-year-old, during Arsenal's three-game pre-season tour to Singapore and Hong Kong. It is a sentiment echoed by the Arsenal players. Speaking after they beat Newcastle 3-2 in the second match of their Asian trip, centre-back William Saliba said: 'Pressure is good, that means we are in a good place. We need to keep going like this. If we are not good, we don't have pressure… We play football to have pressure.' Arteta is determined that the real pressure starts with the culture at the club — that it emanates from within the dressing room. 'We have to make sure that we don't lose sight of what we have to do daily, to get to the levels that we want, to set the demands that we want within the squad, because that's the most important (thing),' he explained during the tour. 'The internal demands have to be always exceeding any external demand, and that's what we are trying to achieve every single day.' Advertisement But what is the temperature elsewhere? If Arteta is under any pressure, that's a consequence of raised expectations. He has elevated Arsenal to the point where anything but an open-top bus parade next May or June will feel underwhelming. The idea that he is under significant pressure from Arsenal's board or owners, or that his job is in some kind of jeopardy, is not credible. It is less than a year since he signed a new contract running to 2027 that made him one of the highest-paid managers in world football. The club has been remodelled around him. His bosses are unlikely to dismantle the project because of another year as the best of the rest. The greatest pressure Arteta faces will come from outside the club. He has never been the most popular manager among the wider football media. His press-conference persona is not designed to make friends. There will doubtless be a whole crew of pundits hoping to see the Arsenal manager walk the plank in the months ahead. That doesn't seem reflective of the mood among Arsenal fans. In The Athletic's survey of supporters in May, 43 per cent of the Arsenal followers who responded said winning the Premier League or the Champions League was the minimum requirement if 2025-26 was to be considered a success. The vast majority still think Arsenal's faith in Arteta will be rewarded, with a massive 91 per cent saying they believe the club will win the Premier League under his management. But as in any fanbase, there are dissenters. Even some Arsenal icons, such as Thierry Henry and Tony Adams, have appeared to question the Spaniard's capacity to take the club that final step. Grievances with the manager vary: some date back to his treatment of popular players, including Mesut Ozil or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, ruthlessly sacrificed on the altar of progress. Others harbour misgivings over the club's handling of the Thomas Partey allegations. Advertisement Some have stylistic concerns: he has shown he can make Arsenal hard to beat, but some still have questions over his ability to coordinate a devastating attack. Arteta's greatest enemy is the immutable law of time. Expectations get higher, and the range of acceptable outcomes narrows. Goodwill wears thin. Familiarity can lead to friction. The narratives around his man-management, tactical preferences and inability to get over the finishing line are pre-established, and will bubble to the surface every time Arsenal lose a big game. The tension is fuelled by anxiety. The clock is ticking. How many more 'almosts' can this Arsenal side afford? Are they in danger of missing their window? Football history is not replete with stories of teams that take the best part of a decade to come to fruition. Keeping a group of players together for that long is difficult. Keeping them motivated is harder. Arteta needs to sustain belief, and somehow stave off the fatigue caused by successive disappointments. Keep digging, keep digging, keep digging. Arteta will be hoping that if Arsenal can be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, the margins will this time fall in their favour. One of the sticks Arteta's detractors beat him with is how much money Arsenal have spent in pursuit of success. They've continued that trend this summer, investing nearly £200million ($271m) in six new signings. Arteta now has Martin Zubimendi, the holding midfielder he has pursued for years. In Viktor Gyokeres, he has the pure No 9 Arsenal have desperately lacked. Noni Madueke provides a persuasive rotation option on the flanks. Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cristhian Mosquera and Christian Norgaard improve squad depth. With the possible exception of a new left-winger — something Arsenal may address in the remaining two weeks of this window — he should have everything he needs. Advertisement By and large, those signings are experienced players, ready to hit the ground running when the matches start to count this weekend. They are symbolic of a club with a 'Win now' mentality. That brings a kind of pressure, too. Never mind 'Win now', for some, this is the 'No excuses' season. And if Arsenal do fall short again, certain supporters will lay the blame at Arteta's door. But others will keep the faith. Many recognise how far Arsenal have come under Arteta's stewardship. The esteem in which he is held by those above him in the club's hierarchy is evident. Few managers in England have his degree of power and job security. It would take a calamitous season for that to change. There is, of course, one indisputable way to answer any doubters, to silence the critics and change the narrative. Win. If Arteta lifts either of the two big prizes, everything changes. It would take the club, and his tenure, into a new era. For now, the message is simple: just keep digging. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
