Rafael Leao was linked with a move to Chelsea this summer but the reports were never confirmed by Italian media. AC Milan’s technical director Paolo Maldini has now shed some light on the situation.
The Portuguese winger played from start as the Rossoneri beat Dinamo Zagreb by three goals to one this evening. He got an assist and also won a penalty, once again confirming his importance to this Milan side.
During the summer, Leao was linked with a move to Chelsea and after the window closed, Gianluca Di Marzio even stated that an offer of €70-80m was made. Maldini was asked about this in an interview with Mediaset this evening.
“Rafa knows that to become even stronger the solution is to stay with us. We are a young and growing team. We intend to do great things and grow with him. If he then reaches a higher level than Milan, we can think about it. An official offer from Chelsea never arrived, but on an informal level it did. Of course, it was refused,” he said as cited by SempreMilan.it.
Leao will miss out on Milan’s clash against Napoli on Sunday evening as he will be serving a suspension. He was sent off against Sampdoria after receiving two yellow cards, the first of which has been heavily debated since.
I’m surprised MALDINI just said this….’If he then reaches a higher level than Milan, we can think about it’…. How can a Player ever be bigger or higher than Milan! I’m baffled!
I don’t think he meant that the player will get bigger than Milan, but that he would like to go to a team that has higher expectations and higher pay.
This current Milan doesn’t have yet the expectations of RMadrid, ManCity, Bayern etc to win every tournament they are in ,every year, or has the financial power to compete with those teams on the transfer market .
aah, that’s what you read, I read “…since he of course can never be bigger than Milan, he’ll finish his carreer with us and do great things”