Rafael Leao has one goal in his last six league games and there have been some disappointing performances in that stretch, leading to question marks about the Portuguese winger.
La Gazzetta dello Sport talk about the surprising but also pre-agreed rotation that took place against Cremonese last night in which Leao started on the bench and came on for the second half, failing to help break the deadlock in a dire 0-0 draw.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
In the 19 matches before the game in Cremona – between the league and the Champions League – Leao was not part of the starting eleven only twice: against Napoli (18 September) because he was suspended, and against Monza (22 October) so he could rest, with a 4-1 win resulting.
Currently, Leao has accumulated 1,407 minutes this season meaning he is the player with the fifth-most minutes in the squad. However, in the absence of the starting centre-forward as well in Olivier Giroud, the decision to rest him now looks bad.
Nonetheless, it must be said that the World Cup obviously plays a fundamental role in all this, an event in which Rafa not only intend to participate, but where he wants a leading role especially after the injury of Diogo Jota.
His contract situation cannot be ignored either, and with performances like yesterday’s, reflection is inevitable. The amount that the Portuguese is asking for and the amount offered and not close to being the same, and while Leao remains the most productive forward in the team – with 6 goals and 7 assists overall – there are question marks about being paid as an elite player and obliterating the previous internal salary ceiling.
Milan tried to speed up the negotiations to agree a renewal before the World Cup, they offered (partially) a hand in the dispute with Sporting CP (a €19.5m fine), but after the meeting at the headquarters a few weeks ago, there has been nothing more concrete.
The report ends with the following: “It is understandable that Rafa is not calm: on the one hand the awareness that going forward with Milan would in fact be the best solution for the short term future, on the other the request for financial recognition of a scale that the club does not intend to accept.”
His performances in the last month aren’t worth 8-10M€/y for any Italian club. Clubs like PSG on the other hand are happy to pay such figures for bench warmers too. And here lies the problem.
E ljepo s obzirom na učinak ponudi mu ugovor od 3-4 mil sa bonusima pa neka MISLI !! Ako neče onda dobranoč ima ko hoče ! Prodaj , uzmi pare i stvaraj ekipu za dogodine ipak pazeči da ostanemo među prva 4 ovu sezonu !!
Sell him in January. Start looking for buyers now. With £80 or £100m, 3 or 4 decent quality reinforcements can be bought and the season might not be a write-off.