Antonio Cassano has revealed that Inter were very close to sealing the signing of Rafael Leao from Lille before their city rivals swooped in.
Last summer, the Rossoneri signed Rafael Leao from Lille for a fee of widely reported to be €28m, however the Portuguese striker struggled to break through at first, spending a lot of time on the bench in his first season.
This season though Leao has been much more consistent in terms of his attacking production when called upon and when not injured, racking up four goals and three assists across 14 appearances in all competitions.
On Sunday he scored the fastest goal in the history of the ‘top five’ European Leagues too, racing through from kick-off to collect a pass from Hakan Calhanoglu and net after less than seven seconds.
Antonio Cassano in a live ‘Twitch’ with his friend and former strike partner Christian Vieri told an anecdote about just how close Leao was to joining Inter.
“I like him so much, before Milan bought him, Ausilio pointed him out to me. He told me ‘go and see him’, Inter had already signed him,” he said (via Goal).
“The only thing I don’t understand is: do you play him on the winger, as first striker, as second striker? Where?”
