AC Milan winger Rafael Leao has admitted that he has room for further improvement and dropped a hint about his future after the win against Sassuolo to clinch the Scudetto.
Leao was absolutely unplayable on the night in the 3-0 win as he contributed three assists in the first half, setting up Olivier Giroud twice for a near post finish on both occasions and then squaring for Franck Kessie to add a third.
He was visibly emotional at full-time as the magnitude of the achievement dawned upon the Portuguese winger, who managed double figures in both goals and assists in what was a campaign that showed tremendous personal progression.
Leao gave an interview with DAZN after the game to reflect on an incredible season from a personal and a collective point of view, with his comments transcribed by MilanNews and translated below.
“This year I have been a different player, I have more confidence and I know I can make a difference. The most important thing is the title win,” he said.
On his goals: “I scored 11 goals in Serie A. I am not a selfish player, but I have to become more clinical. I will become that with work and training.”
On Theo: “Who is faster? We haven’t had a race yet. Theo is a train, he’s an incredible player.”
On the Rossoneri team: “In some games we lacked a bit of maturity. But players like Ibra and Kjaer have passed on their experience to us. This young team has shown that age doesn’t matter on the pitch.”
On the future: “I’m fine here, I’m happy at Milan and in Milano. I arrived here very young, everyone has given me great confidence. Let’s see what will happen.”
If he leaves I’m going to cry
Let’s see what will happen…thats not a confirmation he is staying. The article header should not raise our hopes or be sensational. We have heard that before from.Kessie. If Madrid offer him an mbappe style fee, most likely his head will turn. I would not blame him either. Milan will always be Milan irrespective of who goes or stays. Hakan and donnaruma would be miserable seeing that their departures only made us stronger!
Totally agree, the only solution is to stop players leaving on a free and getting no fees in return. I’m all in favour of our club being financially well run and Elliot has done a great job, but occassionally we need to open the purse strings. Keeping players like Leao, Theo, Mike and Tonali is critical. Oh,,,, Tomori and Kalulu too. These are the core of our team.
And one more thing, id like to see the trend where we lose players on a bosman but dont get players free from other clubs stop.
So your idea is to give a player 10M if he asks so we could take a transfer fee next year? How much do you think will others ask and will you actually make any money from the transfer when you spend that on your wages? Makes 0 financial sense, you are spending more money on wages and you end up with the same amount. While you can’t offer lower wages anymore as others aren’t “low” anymore.
He should get 6M if that is what he is asking for. Players like this get wages of 12-15M in Premier league (for example Rashford is close to 15M), we need to keep up somehow and at least offer 6M and hope he loves the club enough to stay.
correct , unfortunately when you infer “offer” him ,it his his agent who is the jerk, agents are the vultures.