AC Milan, yesterday, effectively sealed Rafael Leao’s exit in a meeting with his entourage earlier in the afternoon.
It has been a long time coming, but it now seems that the divorce between Leao and Milan is on its way. There have been suggestions that they could continue together, but now it seems clear. They will not extend their relationship past this summer in an ideal world…
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This morning’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport has looked at the situation in depth and what the next steps could look like.
Divorce sealed
After reports of a meeting yesterday, Leao is now officially for sale with Gerry Cardinale apparently fed up with the winger. More to the point, the Portuguese is not seen as a good fit for Ruben Amorim’s system.
So, a divorce has ‘effectively been sealed’.
For his departure, the club will demand at least €60 million and after his game against Croatia, it certainly seems feasible. It is a substantial sum, but with the location of interest expected, it makes sense.
Indeed, clubs from the Premier League, Saudi Arabia and Turkey could all afford such a sum. However, there would be an alternative option, too.
Agents now responsible
If there was no interest in a permanent deal yet, or if the terms were not right for now. The Rossoneri would be more than willing to consider a loan deal with an obligation to buy him. Indeed, they want a guaranteed figure from his deaprture.
What is clear is that the Diavolo have laid their gauntlet and it is now up to the player’s agents to sort an exit on whatever terms they can, though it must satisfy the club. He is more distant from Milan than ever before.
Yesterday he showed what he could have been, but I’m not getting fooled anymore, same story over the years. Time to go unfortunately
He’s lazy, yes, time to go.
What he could be he does NOT
Time to cash out on him
He isn’t willing to work on the weaknesses of his game, if anything his finishing has become even poorer. Cutting in and shooting for the top corner should be his bread and butter but this guy struggles to hit the target from 10 meters out. Had a beautiful chance to seal the game for Portugal within the 90, instead we all know a Leao cutting inside shot.
I’m afraid after this he will fade into mediocrity. We’ve kept him propped up for a long time whereas other clubs would’ve swung the hammer years ago at this point.
“For his departure, the club will demand at least
€60 million and after his game against Croatia, it certainly seems feasible.” That’s what I’ve been saying all along, even 70 million € is attainable…
No club will pay that much for Leao currently.
(Keep) maignan terracciano pavlovic gabbia ricci rabiot modric (sale) euros tomori 13.5 estupinan 12 jashari 30 fofana 25 bennacer 5 musah 17.5 loftus cheek 5 saelemaekers 25 leao 50 pulisic 40 chukwueze 20 nkunku 25 gimenez 20 =288 million euros every young player dry loan transfer for center forward luis suarez (sporting) left winger baris alper yilmaz christos tzolis right winger ricardo orsolini jamie leweling central midfielder kenneth taylor (if modric doesn’t resign) mahdi camara defensive midfielder angelo stiller left center back diogo leite ( free transfer) jhon lucumi olivier boscagli right center back sepp van den berg tomas araujo 5th center back tosin adarabioyo danilo doekhi (free transfer) I’m not mentioning any left or right wing backs because I wouldn’t play the 3-4-2-1 but left back maximilian mittelstadt aaron martin right back milan van ewijk ainsley maitland niles attacking midfielder christoph baumgartner julian brandt 4-2-3-1 considering cost wages I tried!
Doubt we can get 70m or even 60m but he showed vs Croatia his talent. If he continues to do well it increases the chances of his sale. 60m sale and getting his 7m wages off the books is smart. Best of luck to him elsewhere.
The arabs will pay 60-70 mln to bring him to his lazy friend of Theo Hernandez
I’m not sure you realise what ‘sealed’ means.
This is ‘proposed’ or ‘hypothesised’.
For it to be sealed, somewhere he wants to go would have to offer him a contract he’d accept and they’d have to offer Milan an amount they/we would accept.
There are not many intersections in that Venn diagram.
Sealed in terms of the clubs position on his importance to us. Its fine let him go. There are plenty of other Talents that can come through. football keeps producing and he was a page in a novel called Milan.
The hate against is mad. People can say whatever they want (to me) Have Leao ever been perfect during his time here in Milan? No.. But I’m grateful to have had a player like him during a inconsistent period for the club and being the top 10 wingers (at some point top 5) in the top 5 leagues in Europe. But yeah.., at this point, best to let him go.
The question now, we’ll we get a player at his or better calibre and loyal the nearest future? Time will tell
I got so ticked off every time he made a backwards pass in the last game instead of showcasing his skillset to drum up demand… Someone ought to tell him no one has knocked on Milan’s doors for him yet. If he’s wanting to try a new experience he may have to start as a janitor at Milan next season …
Yes, as usual the crowd that literally gets everything wrong is all in favor of a quality player leaving and equally excited at the prospect of last season’s most useless players remaining.
Because that quality player explicitly said he wanted to leave, and it’s traced back even before the last match of the season.
I get that, but that’s not what the clown show is saying Are they? Effectively referring to him as lazy, poor finishing etc. Meanwhile these same posters give our most useless players all the excuses in the book as to why they underperformed. Leao played out of position and injured all season and still finished top scorer for Milan with 10! What a clown show. No one credible is surprised he is playing well at the WC.
I think that him and Theo have been hungover Maldini departure to a certain extent. Ronaldo got booed at the Bernabeu, Maldini i believe got similar treatment before that didn’t stop them. They worked harder instead. Leao act like a spoiled child in need of attention. And call it a quit when the stadium show their frustration. I think his decision is because of the beers rather than management.