Former AC Milan defender Marcel Desailly has spoken about Rafael Leao’s untapped potential, and the bizarre Maldini-Bastoni comparisons.
Desailly was bought from European champions Marseille and became a crucial pillar in Fabio Capello’s Milan that won the Serie A and European Cup double. In the final in Athens against Cruijff’s Barcelona, he scored the final goal in a remarkable 4-0 victory.
So, the Frenchman is someone who knows what it takes to win on the biggest stage. Someone who also tasted success is Leao, given he was the MVP in the 2021-22 league title win. However, he has become the centre of attention again after another up and down season.
Desailly spoke in an interview with our colleagues at The Italian Football Podcast about a number of topics connected to Italian football, including those related to his former club.
Rafael Leao has been the subject of a lot of criticism and debate, how do you view him?
“You said it, you cannot criticise him, because the day you criticise him, he will produce magic on the pitch. And you are stuck and you don’t know what to say anymore. In 5 seconds he will crash out all the negativity you put on him
“But we know 100% that he doesn’t have the consistency. And he isn’t on his own a leader for a full season like Messi was, and Neymar was.
“He doesn’t have that consistency. He is an important player for the team, but he can never be the main man throughout the season. He can be the main man once in a while. Because he will be on and off.
“And he looks like he has reached the maximum level he can produce. I can’t criticise him, because he is earning a lot of money, he plays for AC Milan and the Portuguese national team.
“But I think that he thinks he is everything. He isn’t mentally ready mentally to study where he can improve physically, because potentially he cannot physically give more.
“Then maybe he can potentially study how to change his diet, training or whatever to have that consistency. He is a bit of a problem in a system because he doesn’t track back. He’ll push forward but when the action is finished, he just stops.
“It means he doesn’t have the legs to get back into position. So, there must be a physical and mental approach that eventually could bring him to the level of because he could be Ballon d’Or.
“But does he really want it? Are his entourage smart enough to be able to tell him: ‘look what you’ve done is great but to get to the next level, you will need to adjust certain things’. Because for now this is the maximum we can expect from Leao.”
Cruyff trash-talked Milan ahead of the Champions League final win over Barcelona…
“His words helped a lot. The coach didn’t give the speech at the hotel but in the dressing room, with the assistant coach with a copy of the newspaper with the quote that we were crap.
“What are you talking about, we had Donadoni, Albertini, Savicevic and myself all international players. So, saying that Milan wasn’t anything special as we were about to win the Serie A, really motivated us.
“Capello and his assistants were very, very smart by giving us the adrenaline to make the difference. Barcelona was a bit deluded in their motivation. Because they had already won La Liga a couple of weeks earlier.
“So, automatically their adrenaline had dropped, so to bring back into the system the motivation back against a Milan that were like a wolf they couldn’t make it. And also, with an amazing Marcel Desailly they couldn’t make it [laughs].”
Should Bastoni go to Barcelona?
“I think he has been consistent, I think he’s been at Inter for like 7 seasons and doing well no matter who the coach is.
“I don’t think he’s a top leader international player, but as you said he is a player who knows how to adapt into the system. This is his limit.
“He has helped Inter to probably to win the league this season by his consistency and understanding how to read the game. But I think the limit is there, international level, this is it. They don’t play the same system.
“He managed to adapt himself again with Gattuso. He is on the left side, if you want to compare him to Maldini, but he isn’t even half of Maldini. But he is who he is.
“Barcelona transfer? Yes I mean it is a good experience to match your level. Same as Leao, I don’t know his winning mentality. He is a defender, he isn’t a creative player.
“But maybe he can lift the level to understand and adapt to Barcelona’s level where they are in need of a strong defensive attitude.
“You can see Barcelona that in each position they are just amazing, but they are weak at the back and that is why they don’t win the Champions League.
“So he could be that player that brings that consistency and that strength on the defensive block to bring Barcelona to another level. Because they definitely need defensive leaders in the squad.”
Marcel Desailly basically said that Leao sees himself as a top player but he plays a good game once in a blue moon, he is lazy and his conditioning is poor. Marcel knows ball.
Barcelona defense is embarrassing. 2 years in a row they get knocked out because of their defenders. The last thing they need is Bastoni who is a poor defender. Bastoni has a great left foot and is better in passing and going forward than defending. He is this generation Bonucci. Great distributing the ball from the back but playing next to Chiellini and Barzagli fooled people into thinking that he is a half a decent defender. Also, Bastoni looks even worse defensively in a 4 men back line which is what Barca uses.
Statistically speaking, Leao could be a Ballon D’Or finalist if he played on a team where all he had to do was get into the box and wait for the ball. He would rack up goals very quickly. In Milan, he is expected to play defense, press, and move the ball up field, and he gets frustrated during all of that.
It’s amazing that people still talk about “potential” with Leao, as if he is some 21 year old kid. He’s about to be 27. He’s not going to get better, in fact we have already seen his best. His speed is going to start declining now and without that he doesn’t have much else to offer.
Just like Di Canio (not that I like him) said, when you’re better in your 21 compared in your 26, something must be wrong.
If he stays (not that he’s going to but…) we’ll still be talking about his potential when he’s 30. 🙂
He thinks he’s everything. Couldn’t say it better. All of his attitude (and antiques) comes down to that conclusion.
And regarding Bastoni, he’s not even 10% defender Maldini was. Not even close.