AC Milan forward Rafael Leao has revealed that he never actually thought of leaving the club and he has a lot more to achieve for the Rossoneri.
Speaking during a press conference on national team duty with Portugal (via Milan News), the forward was asked about his recent contract extension with Milan and the potential that he could have chosen to head elsewhere.
He explained that the decision to renew had been made long before it was communicated to the fans, and he is fully committed to winning more trophies with the club.
“The decision had already been made before signing the contract, I told the directors that it was what I wanted. When I arrived at Milan the club supported me in an incredible way, I didn’t think about any other club or about leaving, I want to make history at Milan,” Leao explained.
Leao is a vital player for Milan but he is not a starter for Portugal, that is something that he seems calm about though.
“No reason. When I arrive here I don’t think about that, I only think about giving my best. I don’t think about being a starter or the bench, I try to do my best and improve, I’ll be happy, but the most important thing is to represent the national team,” he said.
He was also asked about the possibility of Mehdi Taremi joining Milan this summer as a new striker, but he quickly shut down the discussion by explaining that it is not his job.
“That subject is not my responsibility. There are those who deal with it, I’m only talking about the national team,” he said.
Hold up.
You wanna tell me that he still wants to stay at the 2nd best club in football history even though a couple of “directors” got fired.
Huh! Who would have thunk it 🤔.
“thunk” you are American btw that says a lot
And you are comment says a lot about you being a xenobhobe.
Maldini, the employee, got fired by Cardinale, the owner of Milan.
Deal with it and move on.
He isn’t coming back no matter your silly #CardinaleOut, #RedBirdOut.
I moved on unfortunately but I think the club will never move on and we will stagnate but I will be so happy to be proved wrong
Also I just said that you don’t know your native language idk why you brought Paolo up
Second best?
LOLZ!!! People on here are ridiculous with the emotional problems! Maldini was a great player but not a great director and he is gone now. Milan was there before Maldini and will be there after Maldini.
My friend that’s the point of the all debate on this website for a week. Some think Maldini was a great director, some think he’s not, everybody is entitled to his opinion but we can debate, confront our arguments. Free speech is a blessing. Milan was a liability before Maldini and it could be again. And none of us here hope for it, we just express concerns about the new strategy.
Trying to make look stupid the people that think firing Maldini was a mistake with this Leao’s statement is fair. We all wish he could stay for long. Now we all know human psychology, and we all know that changing his mind is part of the human behaviour. Kessié or Donnarumma were adamant about their love for the club and their desire to stay before they left.
But it’s good news to hear Leao speak this way currently, let’s all rejoice and hope that all players feel the same way!
It’s not that Maldini was fired why everyone is upset – all are entitled to their opinion whether he was a good director or bad and every owner is entitled to hire and fire who they choose wether someone else agrees with it or not. It is the REASON he was fired which makes everyone upset. He was fired because he asked the club to invest more money in the squad to take that next step. Cardinale didn’t like it so he canned him because that is not Redbirds intent with this club. They have no ambition to win only make PROFIT. He just made a statement to that effect today. He said The “goal” is to “Participate” in UCL to raise the profile of the brand. He didn’t say the goal is to WIN TITLES – he said “participate” lol. Have you ever heard of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Man U, Barca, Bayern etc..say we just are happy to “participate” innUCL each season????? he doesn’t care about wining. He cares about raising the brand awareness to generate more revenue to make more PROFIT. That is a fact and said by Cardinale himself. So we can also stop dreaming of an ownership that wants to build something special like in the days of Berlusconi. Now it’s PROFIT and more PROFIT. The Atalanta model. Profitable every season but never win a thing. Welcome to the new Milan
These are the “directors” who found, brought, believed and allow him to become who he is.
BTW how do you explain his reaction when Maldini was fired? Not a reaction from someone who is ok with this.
You mean the reaction of him driving his expensive car while smiling and listening to music? I thought it was cool and it seems like he is enjoying his life.
I want to see the “He will leave because Maldini left” crown eat their words now. Milan is above anyone, even Maldini. No star players will leave – you people need to stop believe all the Italian newspaper stories and you also need to toughen up, you are way too soft.
You expect him to say that he’ll leave? Lol. What else did u expect him to say? (I’m not saying he wants to leave and is not saying it but as a professional what would u expect? ) But you gotta admit the environment isn’t the same.
Do you mean your environment? Everything is perfect from where I stand. Maldini can buy the club and run it the way he deems fit but for now, someone else is calling the shots and they will do just fine. This is AC Milan and not AC Maldini.
My environment? Hahaha what??
Yes, nothing to see here lol.. everything is EXACTLY the same smh 🤦♂️
Does anyone think Maldini want Milan to regress because he got sacked?
At the end of the day, they players know that Maldini will always support Milan. So if they are here for Maldini, they should continue to be with Milan.
Any Maldini fans should still support Milan because Maldini still support Milan.
Maldini doesn’t want Milan to regress just because he got fired.
Maldinisti want Milan to regress just because Maldini got fired.
I call them as fake Maldinisti. Maldini love Milan, real Maldinisti should love Milan too and hope that the players he assembled can grow further and bring further glory to Milan.
@Poli finally you have, spoken facts.. And I agree, with you for the first time!
@SMH FACTS
I somehow hope to see Adriano Galliani back at ACM. He was, still is and will always be the best man for that position.
Fine everyone crying about how our players going to leave, let me open your eyes. This thing called contract is very powerful. Unless the sky falls on our heads contracts are a serious piece of paper that courts and government abide by. So if anyone wants to leave immediately we are DEFINITELY going to get compensated for it and that adds to our transfer budget. I always will be a maldini fan as sporting director. But he chose to tell Cardinale to “go play baseball.” Who does that? That is highly unprofessional. Plus maldinis contract can be closed for less than 10 million by Cardinale.. pocket change for a billionaire. If leao wants to leave, very good. We get 175 million for the transfer budget and moncada moneyballs an entire team with a whole new bench of young hungry players. I’d rather see Milan breaking those records and building a legacy by experimenting for more than 10 years than collect t shirt revenue from the next Ronaldo or Messi and wasting away like Barca did. Man city won the UCL by experimenting for more than 10 years. Imagine when we win 5 or 6 scudetti back to back but we always have the best talent like Bayern city and Madrid.. that’s a great future.. believe with me fellow Rossoneri.
“But he chose to tell Cardinale to “go play baseball.””
For real? Do you have a source? That would be funny haha
For the rest, I totally disagree with you. Why tf would we sell Leao? It’s no sure thing that we could replace him efficiently, even with 175M. The only sure thing is that he’s our best player and a world class talent. We will build around him, that’s probably what the front staff told him and why he’s so happy to stay.
I can imagine Zlatan said that to Cardinale if he attempt to bring him as director.
Well, no budget yet.
Cardinale wants all the free players. No word of money to spend.
###Cardinaleout.
It is good if he is happy , enjoy his music while driving luxurious sport car . Atleast AC Milan LW will be deadly for 5 years. AC Milan need another deadly RW to make all side work well. Those who still comment praying AC Milan get bankrupt or relegation because sacking one employers then it is time to move on, living with hate in your heart not good for your mental health
Anyone hating the club for Maldini’s sacking is not Maldini fans, they are Maldini haters as they hope for the worse for the club that Maldini love.