Repubblica: Leao ended up at Milan despite higher offer from Serie A rival

Rumours continue to emerge about the investigations into AC Milan after the Guardia di Finanza knocked on the doors of Casa Milan to conduct some searches, and some interesting information has emerged.

This morning’s edition of the newspaper La Repubblica (via PianetaMilan) offers some intriguing background regarding Rafael Leao, who is now obviously one of the starts of the team and among the best wingers in Europe.

The paper states that the destination of his transfer from Ligue 1 to Serie A could in fact have been different. The investigation into Milan also looked at two big players within the squad, namely Leao and Mike Maignan.

The operations are being looked into in detail by the prosecutor’s investigation as they are former Lille players and there is the suspicion – again according to the prosecutors – that the Ligue 1 side would were under the control of Elliott Management.

The problem would arise from any overlap involving their ownership of Milan, which would be constitute a potential violation of the UEFA rule on timeshares (multi-club ownerships).

La Repubblica add a brief but interesting comment: Leao ended up at Milan in 2019 despite the fact that Lille had actually received a higher offer from Napoli.

The Neapolitans had finished second the season prior, while the Rossoneri missed out on the Champions League in the final round of the season.