Romano claims Nkunku is ‘annoyed’ after January rumours: “Linked to 300 teams”

Christopher Nkunku was not particularly happy about all of the talk of a potential exit in the January window, Fabrizio Romano has claimed.

As we approached the winter mercato and with Nkunku struggling for form following his big-money arrival from Chelsea in the summer, stories began to build about the possibility that he could be sold by Milan after just a few months.

In the end the Frenchman remained, helped also by his good run in 2026 so far, having scored the most goals of any Rossoneri player since the turn of the year. The hope now is that he can kick on, but there has already been talk that he was not happy with the speculation last month.

‘Never had the slightest intention’

During his daily video update on his YouTube channel, Fabrizio Romano took stock of various issues at Milan – including the pursuit of Dusan Vlahovic – and he shed some light on the speculation surrounding Nkunku.

“The player confirmed what we’ve been saying here on the channel for weeks. It was a story from December when they told you that Nkunku was close to joining Fenerbahce. It was a story from the last days of the winter transfer window when they told you about Roma and many teams linked with the player,” he said.

Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

“I can tell you that Nkunku has never had the slightest intention of leaving Milan. He never had any kind of thought about leaving, neither when Fenerbahce came forward nor when other teams were written about, which were never an option because Nkunku would never have considered a move from Milan in January.

“He gave a very nice interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport (read in full here), very nice words for his team but above all showing his intention to help in the best way possible, as he has already been demonstrating in recent weeks.

“Nkunku’s signal is that of a player who is also a little annoyed by all these rumours. He has been linked to 300 teams, I have always come here to tell you that the player’s will has always been very clear, and everyone noticed, so much so that Fenerbahce disappeared at the beginning of January.

“But the same was true for other Italian and European clubs he was linked with. Nkunku wanted to join Milan, to pursue his opportunities with the Rossoneri. He had several opportunities in the summer – Newcastle, Leipzig, Lerverkusen – but he chose Milan, and that’s why he never considered that option. From now until the summer, it will be a different story.”