Figures have shown that Rafael Leao is a more effective player on the left of the attack rather than as a striker through the middle, a report claims.
As has been reported by Milan News, the AC Milan player spent most of his career before joining the Rossoneri playing as a striker down the middle.
In Sporting CP’s youth academy, he played 23 games, scoring 13 goals and getting four assists. When he moved to Lille, he played centrally and scored eight goals and got two assists in 24 games.
Playing on the left of an attacking trio or quartet seems to be where Leao is most dangerous. This season he has played 15 games in that position and has got seven goals and five assists, even with a large patch of time out of form.
As the team begins to get back to form, Leao will likely continue to show why that is his best role.
I disagree. I think he adds more fluidity to our attack in the center instead of getting isolated from the team out wide. Defenders don’t know if he’ll pass or shoot as a CAM and he’s actually very good at passing. Clearlu, he still has the option to drift wide in the new formation so not a huge change. Playing out wide would be okay if we had a strong CAM but Brahim and CDK have failed to totally control that area. We end up just booting it up to the corner and hope Leao can beat 3 defenders. That will get us the occasional W but won’t lead to long term success.
I think that the ideal for someone like Leão is the possibility of ‘floating’ between different attacking positions, due to his remarkable combination of speed and skill.
Leao should be given a free role like Kaka, that has been how milan plays. Then Giroud will keep the ball holding for him whenever choked up. Then Brahim should really train with with and play really close to him, just like seedirf always close around kaka then, and only trio of seedird, kaka and inzaghi were always enough to drop any defence back then. The proof was the 07 triumph of the CL!
He should play on the LW but we need a good RW for that. When we attack you can see defender double block Leao because the right side is almost useless, and Giroud is static so no fear of him running away.