AC Milan winger Rafael Leao could be used in a more central role with Portugal during the 2024 European Championship which may open up new opportunities in Italy.
Portugal are led by Roberto Martinez and are one of the favourites to succeed at Euro 2024 in Germany, and as Radio Rossonera has highlighted, the coach has not been playing Leao in his usual left-wing position.
In a friendly against Ireland that ended 3-0 to the Portuguese, Martinez used a 3-4-1-2 formation to try and get the most out of the wealth of attacking talent he has in the team.
That side featured Diogo Dalot and Joao Cancelo on the wings, Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves in the middle, and Joao Felix in the number 10 role. Martinez opted to use Leao as a striker, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
He played the first half and had less running to do than in his Milan role. He managed two shots, one of which was on target, and 87% of his passes were successful.
It will be very intriguing to see if this is where he plays for the whole tournament, and also how many minutes he gets. With Diogo Jota and Goncalo Ramos fighting for that role in that formation, there is a lot of competition.
Paulo Fonseca will certainly be watching the Portugal games and could see him as an alternative to Joshua Zirkzee through the season.
So no goals for Leao this tournament… he sucks as a central attacker. Has Martinez never seen him play central? Leao is totally lost up there.
Still just friendlies but yeah he’s definitely a LW through and through
Let’s Fonseca gets other ideas we best make sure we get at least one new striker. Don’t want people to think the problem is sorted with Leao playing up front.