A report has suggested that there is still a chance of seeing Rafael Leao available for the game against Bologna on Sunday.
The news arrived from La Gazzetta dello Sport in the past few hours suggesting that Leao can effectively be ruled out of the contest in four days at San Siro. This is because his calf issue – sustained nearly a month ago against Bari – is still causing him some discomfort.
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Hope remains?
However, MilanNews paint a slightly different picture in their update this afternoon. They confirm that Leao is continuing his individual work at Milanello as planned, and he also completed a solo session today with specific therapies and exercises.
He is of course aiming to fully recover from the calf injury he suffered on August 17th, but above all no major issues have been reported and therefore it really is a case of taking things day by day. It will then be up to coach Massimiliano Allegri and his staff.
They will collectively have to decide whether to call him up for Milan-Bologna or keep him out for another week. Overall, everything will be done with the utmost caution: they don’t want to risk anything.
If the Portuguese is not yet 100% ready to play, as is currently the case, he won’t be called up and his recovery will focus on being ready for the trip to face Udinese on September 20th.
I say, keep him out for another week so that he fully recovers instead of risking the injury aggravating again and taking much longer to heal. We have options for the offense, with Pulisic, Gimenez and Nkunku (although the latter doesn’t seem to be 100% either). In any case, if we go 3-5-2 against Bologna, even if Nkunku is also not available, Puli and Gimenez could handle the two spots in the front of the offense. I actually would welcome an opportunity for Santi to prove his worth. I know that the offense usually plays much better when Rafa plays, but we can’t afford to aggravate his injury. It’s a pity not to have him for Bologna but it is the safer route, in case there is any doubt whatsoever regarding the full recovery. I’d leave that up to the team doctors. If they say to Allegri “he’s back to 100% and fully healed” then call him up. Anything lower than that, keep him out for another week. It’s actually quite simple.