After more than five months without a goal, Rafael Leao finally returned to scoring in the league on Sunday evening against Atalanta and what a screamer it was.
As Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) write this morning, beyond the goal Leao also had a fantastic performance, undoubtedly one of the best in the Milan shirt as Stefano Pioli declared after the match.
“It was one of his best performances, in terms of quality and consistency. He attacked continuously. Because he has these possibilities and he must learn to exploit them. It depends on no one, only on him,” he said.
This season, his way of playing has changed. The Portuguese forward has become more of an assist man and less of a goalscorer. Of course selflessness is an asset, but a player with his talent cannot be satisfied with having scored four goals in 23 Serie A games so far.
He must certainly work on this and at Milanello they say that Zlatan Ibrahimovic – someone who knows a lot about scoring goals – is helping him work on his future. Ibrahimovic thinks that Leao is ‘a genius’ and he knows that it must be channeled so that his full potential is realised.
Meanwhile, PSG are looking at Leao as a replacement for Kylian Mbappé, who is destined for Real Madrid. The former Lille man is on the list of Ligue 1 giants, but they won’t pay the €175m release clause.
For Milan, Rafa is absolutely untransferable and only a monstrous offer could make the Rossoneri management change their minds.
If we resist the temptation to sell him instead allowing him to develop more and elevate his game, the potential could be jaw dropping.
All depends on Rafa.
All depends on how many zeros the check from PSG will have.