Ahead of the summer mercato, some news has emerged about Rafael Leao and his AC Milan future, as a report has suggested that an elite English Premier League side are ‘lining up’ a move for the Portuguese winger.
This season has not been Leao’s best by any stretch of the imagination. However, he has still helped Milan in big moments, and he will captain the side this weekend against Juventus, proving how much of an asset he is to the Rossoneri.
Given Leao is still only 24 years old, there is still so much room for him to progress in his career, and with him renewing his deal with the Diavolo last season, there is a hope that he will experience his best years with the club.
Nevertheless, the club are aware that other clubs are interested in his quality and potential to get better, and they have been preparing themselves for offers since reports broke earlier this season that several clubs were interested in him.
Today, El Nacional (via Football 365) have reported that Manchester City may act upon their interest in the summer window with the help of Jorge Mendes, who would ‘take Leao to City’, with the club reportedly willing to listen to offers for Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva.
It would be imagined if one or both of the players departed, they would quickly make a move for Leao, who has several suitors, such as Barcelona and Manchester United. However, the report has suggested that the Catalan club cannot match Milan’s asking price due to being low on funds.
175M!
or Straight swap with Haaland
You’re dreaming. In nobody’s world is Leao equal to Haaland in value.
Actually, in Seria A Halaand would dominate and would easily be worth straigh swap.
He’s not a great footballer but he’s a generational goal scorer.
One major problem. Phil Foden who would put Leao to shame Nd relegate him to permanent substitute.
I was saying Haaland is worth way more than Leao
OK let’s say we sell him. But with Leao, we’re an average club. He is the most dangerous player on our team. Inconsistent or not. Everything goes through him.
If they could sell him for over 100, sign a top striker, move Puli to his natural LW side and give Chuk a chance at consistent playing time at RW, it seems like a good move. And then use some excess funds from the deal to fill other holes
This or selling him is the precursor to appointing Conte and going to 3-5-2, which would probably employ the new striker next to Okafor or Pulisic. Chukwueze would also have to be sold in this case.
Conte is going to Napoli.
Yes, but understand that Puli on the LW is nowhere near Leao in terms of quality and potential.
Nobody says we are not replacing him.
By whom ? There are not many players in the world who have Leao’s qualities, and these few players will probably cost in the north of 100M and might need some time to adapt, form a parternship with Theo, and might not even succeed considering the pressure.
We pretty much proposing to sell our best player with no guarantee of whom is gonna replace him. Do you think we’re gonna get Mbappe or Foden or Kvaratskhelia ? With the moneyball they’re probably gonna go for some unkown talent from an inferior league that will cost around 30M.
Switch to 3-5-2 and “promote” Theo upper on the pitch. You’ll thank me later.
So I guess that if we’re gonna sell Leao that means Conte will be our coach ?
No. I mean without Leao we’d get better results with 3-5-2 and Theo could be the one to replace him. He’d have more freedom to attack while still playing the game even when the opponent has the ball. That has been missing from the left flank.
Who ever coaches us. Any decent coach without Leao would understand that Theo + new formation is the key.
Agree, plus you hbe the partnership with Theo which is invaluable
I get money talks. However would Leao got to Manchester? Seems like living a city like Milan where you have fashion, culture, music seems more of interest to Rafa. I could be wrong but these things seem.more important to him.
Guardiola could make him make another step and become a better player. MC will certainly invest big this summer for one or two attacking players (AM/winger) but I doubt it will be Leao.
Pep could yes, but given the FFP situation I don’t see it. They need to address the KDB problem, if they make a big move I think it will be more like 70m for Guimaraes
Yeah, that mainly is why I doubt MC are interested in buying Leao. They have other priorities.
I’d expect them to go for an Eze (Palace) type of profile as well if they were going to go for an attacking player
Maybe it will be Savio. Troyes is part of the City group so MC can get him for a below-market fee to avoid breaching the FPP.
Like he did with Ibra??
Ibra’s issue was that he did not get along well with Messi. Between him and Messi, he was the one to be sacrificed, so to speak.
Plus Ibra did not listen to Guardiola’s orders and things got personal, and Pep is well-known for getting rid of such players. Just ask Joao Cancelo.
This is nothing more than click bait…not by this forum, but perhaps by Mendes. City are under scrutiny for FFP violations. Are they going to spend 150m on Leao? Plus the have Doku who is very good, cheaper and playing better than Leao. Grealish does a great job for City and performs
In Pep’s formation. Lastly, Pep demands 100% compliance to his system, Leao doesn’t track back he is with respect…a bit lazy.
Of course Mendes would take him to city, he wants the commission because like all agents he’s a f@cking ar$ehole.
Then again if an owner wanted to cash in on a player, and an agent wanted a fat fee, perhaps they could ‘talk’….
City are gonna get charge by EPL authority. There is no way they will make big money signing due to FFP watching them too
Exactly. You can tell who pays attention to what happens outside of Italy by the trash they write.
Yes. Let’s sell one of our important players and then used the money for new players that we don’t know could or couldn’t adapt with Serie-A.
I’m sure Moncada can find another unknown young players that have potential to become world class player in the next 5-6 years. After that, sell that player again to get another unknown young players. Rinse and repeat.
Milan is most suited for twin strike set up. Leao is not suitable for Milan. Sell