Matteo Moretto has refuted the idea that Rafael Leao would net a pay rise if he were to renew his deal with AC Milan.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport claim that Leao penning an extension with Milan until 2030, with his current deadline being 2028. They spoke of interest from the Premier League and Saudi Arabia, but also the Portuguese’s happiness in Italy.
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Leao renewal: The latest
Moretto spoke alongside his colleague Fabrizio Romano on his Italian YouTube channel, with the latter giving an update on the Massimiliano Allegri to Real Madrid rumours. The former addressed the speculation about Leao.
“Leao and Milan, we’ll tell you what’s leaking out from the Rossoneri. From what we understand, Rafael’s renewal isn’t a contract adjustment, but simply a contract extension until 2030,” he said.
“Discussions have taken place, and the parties have spoken extensively in recent months, but in truth, there haven’t been any major updates recently.
“Milan would certainly like to extend the player’s contract by the end of the season, and then decide in June what to do and what options to pursue.”
Leao currently has 10 goals this season, nine of which have come in the league. He has had to adjust to a new, more central role, while also battling various physical ailments. He scored on Sunday against Cremonese, showing signs that he can indeed operate as a centre-forward.
After the Cremonese game there were so many articles and comments basically saying that Milan looked like Messi, Neymar, Suarez Barca team once they switched to 433, and that was the reason they scored goals in that game, how Leao looked great once he switched to his favorite left wing position and now I see that Leao scoring a goal vs Cremonese on a counter attack (after he missed 3 big scoring chances) while playing on the left wing and not as a center forward was Leao showing signs that he can indeed operate as a center forward.
Which one is it?
If we capitalized on said missed chances the game would’ve been decided without the switch. Still, the switch allowed Bartesaghi to push further up to win the corner and for Niclas to nick it up for Nkunkish to assist Rafa, showing a clear advantage of the 433 against the low-block teams who tend to holdout on us for most of the game. Against teams like Inter I pray Allegri sticks to the 352, especially now that Rafa is back to his usual jovial gliding manner
Goals in back to back games for Yunus Musah.
Thats remarkable especially since he comes of the bench and plays as a midfielder.
Even a headless chicken sometimes gets to the other side of the road.
And it only took him 3 years to do that. 😀 😀 😀
Lil child will always be a lil child.or he is lacking in intelligence…
😉
To the usual Leão haters:
Rafa has earned already 11 points for Milan this season, with his goals.
2025/2026
Milan-Fiorentina 2-1, 2 goals → 3 points
Milan-Lazio 1-0, 1 goal → 3 points
Cagliari-Milan 0-1, 1 goal → 3 points
Milan-Genoa 1-1, 1 goal → 1 point
Milan-Como 1-1, 1 goal → 1 point
TOTAL: 11 points
Without Rafa’s goals, Milan would have been in 7th place, outside the qualification for any of the European tournaments.
Let’s all give Leao a standing ovation because he does something that he is getting paid the most on the team to do but rarely does it.
You can do that same little exercise about Pulisic, Maignan, Rabiot, Modric. See who is more valuable or essential for the team success, Leao or those other guys are mentioned. Where would Milan be in the standings if Maignan, or if Pulisic, or if Rabiot or if Modric were not on the team?
Why don’t you usual Leao fanboys crunch their numbers and how many points they have earned them with their running, defending, creating, scoring.
BTW, outside of Como, the rest of the teams where Leao actually did something to help the team, according to your little list, are all trash teams.
Lets see if Leao will actually show up vs a top team or as usual he will go missing.
You can easily say that about the every player. Pulisic is weak mentally, it is obvious. He was looking like prime Ronaldo in finishing. There was a story about him being involved with that actress and that was it. Can’t hit a goal anymore. He now needs 3 months to gather himself. And so on…
Pulisic is injured. That was the excuse that gave Leao the “get out of jail free” card so it must work with Pulisic too, right?
Pulisic will be sold if he can’t get fit consistently. That’s where his liability is compared to Leao.
i will never say anything against Puli, Mike, Rabiot, and Modric. They are the other very good players, together with Rafa. But the fact that they are also good and helpful, doesn’t mean that Rafa isn’t.
And come on, those teams Rafa scored against are weak? That’s exactly the teams we have the most trouble with. We’ve been fine against the big teams that attack us, then we counter-attack. Our problem is a lot more one of breaking the low-block bottom feeders, and Leão solved those games and earned us 11 points. Without his goals, our record against the weak teams which is already bad, would have been even worse.
It doesn’t really matter where you earn the points because every Serie A game is worth the same number of points, be them against #1 Inter or against #20 Verona or any other club in-between. The league doesn’t award more points when we beat the big teams and fewer points when we beat the small teams. So, your argument on this is ridiculous,
Have you noticed that after his latest goal against Cremonese, Leao became the current player with the most scored goals for Milan, this season? Still, you doubt that he is helpful.
Not to forget, the Fanboy label is infantile and speaks more of you when you use it, than of the people you use it against.
I’m not a Rafa “fanboy.” I’m an AC Milan lifetime fan, and I appreciate ALL our good players and their contributions, be them Rafa or the other four you listed. That’s what real fans do. Haters who unfairly target our own players are a disgrace and should be rooting for some other team if they can’t even support the players who are helpful to us.
oh and also this – I assume from your screen name that you read Italian; if you don’t, use Google Translate:
Leao è il decimo attaccante più efficiente della storia rossonera: dato ottenuto mettendo a rapporto i minuti giocati con la somma di gol e assist. Questa è la top ten che mostra ogni quanto un giocatore ha messo a referto un gol o un assist:
TOP TEN ATTACCANTI PIÙ EFFICIENTI DELLA STORIA DEL MILAN (minimo 150 presenze – dati Transfermarkt)
1. Zlatan Ibrahimović – 93,1
2. Marco van Basten – 102,1
3. Gunnar Nordahl – 108,3
4. Andriy Shevchenko – 113,1
5. Alexandre Pato – 120,8
6. Filippo Inzaghi – 122,1
7. Pierino Prati – 126,7
8. Aldo Boffi – 130,1
9. Kaká – 133,2
10. Rafael Leão – 133,4
———-
Top ten in the 125-year history of this prestigious club, not bad, huh?
Not to forget, Rafa is one of only 4 players in Milan’s 125-year history with simultaneously more than 50 goals and more than 20 assists. The other 3: Kaká, Seedorf and Gianni Rivera. Good company, huh?
Also, one of only 2 players in Serie A to have scored at least 10 seasonal goals in every single season of the last six seasons; the other one is Lautaro Martinez.
Still, people like you can’t see his contributions. Blind.