Fabio Capello has revealed his belief that Rafael Leao has potential that is on par with Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, even having the edge on him in one particular area.
Real Madrid were second best for large parts of the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley but they ended up winning the competition for a 15th time, emerging 2-0 victors.
Carlo Ancelotti got his fifth European Cup/Champions League as a coach, and both goals came inside the final 20 minutes. Dani Carvajal glanced home a header from a corner 16 minutes from time before Vinicius finished Jude Bellingham’s pass to kill the game off.
Speaking after the game on Sky, Capello made a comment regarding Vinicius and compared him to Leao, a player who shares the same position as him and is of a similar age but is yet to hit the same levels.
“At the beginning of his career, Vinícius Júnior seemed like a rebellious, anarchic player and now instead he talks about the group, about how important it is to help each other,” he said (via Radio Rossonera).
“There are players who deserve to have different moments and not spend hours recording a rap album. The real record, the work is done in Milanello, in Madrid, the everyday work to improve and not settle.
“To do this you need a guide, a club that can help you achieve your goals, it is one of the most important things to help the coach and Carlo Ancelotti has everything, he has done it in every team.
“Leao, I’m saying now, would need something different because he has enormous potential and perhaps physically has something more than Vinícius, but he has to bring it out.”
Leao is potentially an even better player than Vinicius; he needs a coach who will encourage his cutting edge. He is large, very fast and very skilful – an absolute nightmare for any defender.
he can be as good as henry in my opinion. His lack of seriousness during the game leads to some of his shortcomings. He needs someone to make him more effective but it is also on Leao to bridge that gap as well.
Capello is spot on, if Leao wants to hit the heights he needs a total reset, he needs to understand AC Milan and his career as a footballer come first, but lately truth be told he has adopted a certain hip hop trend that’s not healthy, he has a lousy sense of fashion, that frankly is ridiculous, then he needs to reduce his interactions with certain people, and concentrate on himself, what Capello said is very true, physically he is a far better specimen than Vini, technically he is better, but Vini now applies more concentration , work ethic and maturity…
“if Leao wants to hit the heights”
What do you mean IF? He has shown zero signs of such thing.
This leao get pocketed by pavard who not even first choice in france nt. He isnt vinicius level yet who constantly show his greatness in big game.
Milan, fantastic Ultras and Mega history but less italians and no Power on the bench and a stupid Management from anti—italians
Exactly, as far i know, milan always thrive under italian coach. And than this management sign foreigner because his cheap salary.
Pioli was the problem for Leao. Every time he was playing it seems like Pioli’s tactics were to give the ball to Leao. Watch how Fonseca will transform Leao into an elite player the same way he did with Jonathan David.
Before Fonseca arrived at Lille, Jonathan David played as a 2nd striker not a lone striker. Last season he scored 24 goals and 19 goals this season under Fonseca as a lone striker.
There are coaches who know how to get the best out their players and it seems more like the players we have are regressing under Pioli because of his ridiculous tactics and system.
Under Fonseca, I believe we will see the best out of Kalulu, Thiaw, Simic, Adli, Zeroli, Leao, Okafor, Chukwueze, Musah and David if we sign him.
The coaches have a lot to do with how players develop. Playing these players out of their natural position does more harm to their confidence and development and Pioli was notorious for doing that and not giving guys like Simic, Zeroli, Chukwueze, Adli and Okafor a fair chance even when other players were UNDER PERFORMING.
Whether or not he wants to record a rap album is not a problem..I sense some hatred there in that part of the comment lol. Lots of professional athletes have other endeavors now and back in the day. But if he doesn’t perform then people will question his focus (presumably this is the issue). He produced the same amount of goal contributions this year as last year (28, which is ALOT) and led the team both times. Can he improve? Sure. Was it expected that he improve his numbers ? Maybe. But we did sign him on exactly this level of output which people have to realize is quite good.
Plus i would think it’s much easier to be playing and looking on the field to see Bellingham, Rodrygo, Kroos and Camavinga in your team than seeing Loftus cheese, Musah and Reinjders
The problem with Leao IMO is not his G+A or skills. He is very good and like it or not he is our best player by quite a good margin, but he seems to be able to do much more like he is currently doing. Players like Saelemakers were very limited in comparison, but you can feel they were giving 100% each game. With Leao he seems to be giving like 70% or 80% sometimes even less if it’s an easy opponent (hence why some say he is lazy).
Plus he does seem to be content with what he as reached, he doesn’t seem to be hungry for me despite having a lot of room for growth. For example, he is not as lethal in front of the goal as the number of goals scored might make it look, he doesn’t score often from headers or set pieces and he doesn’t seem to be able to play as a striker/second striker or any position that require him to be closer to the goal which pretty much doesn’t allow us to go for 3-4-3 or 3-5-2.
But overall I do agree with your post
Oh even though I gave the g+a stat, on the one hand it’s great but I wholeheartedly agree with you in that I believe he can do so much more. “With Leao he seems to be giving like 70% or 80% sometimes even less if it’s an easy opponent (hence why some say he is lazy).”. Exactly my sentiments. I just wanted to offer balance. His numbers are quite good. Plus, as u said, he does so much more. He leads the team in most attacking stats. But that’s why I think he needs competition. I seriously believe he can take it up a few more notches to the level where he’s totally unplayable. Right now he’s unplayable when he wants to be. He has many things he can work on. So yes, frustrating but good at the same time 🤷♂️
The problem is that for many of us it seems difficult to comprehend that someone so talented just isn’t prioritizing developing his skillset to be a better version of himself.
But maybe Leao doesn’t care to be the next Vini or CR7. Maybe football is his paycheck and music is his passion. It’s entirely possible.
And that’s why he’s at Milan, a club that hasn’t pushed him to improve and work hard, rather put him in a comfort zone. He understands that he’s the most dangerous player at Milan. He has no competition, as it is hard to find someone to give him that which he needs the most.
If he was better or more consistent, he simply would not be at Milan. He’d be at a super club.
I have the feeling he will finish like Niang, a wonderful talent that jumped from his balkony to swimming pool at the hotel.
Wasn’t it Balotelli who did that (too)?