Mauro Tassotti has given his thoughts on the Rafael Leao situation, revealing his belief that AC Milan simply cannot do without him.
Leao was not named in the starting line-up for Tuesday’s 2-0 home defeat to Napoli and that has brought further question marks regarding his relationship with Paulo Fonseca, with talk of things being close to a breaking point.
Christian Pulisic was a late omission from the XI for the game against the league leaders and yet Fonseca – who had benched Leao in the previous home league game against Udinese – decided to leave his compatriot out again.
Tassotti gave an interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport about the saga that surrounds the Portuguese forward and he made it clear that he should be played because of his importance to Milan.
“Milan can’t do it without him, he’s too important for the team. I don’t know the situation inside, but keeping him on the bench as a punishment is one thing, but if Leao stays out due to a technical choice then there’s something wrong,” he said.
“If you have a great player in your squad you should put it in a condition to express to his best. It’s okay to make rotations at times to spur him to do better, but without getting to masochism.
“Will he start against Monza? To be fair, I would’ve expected to see him start against Napoli too. He would’ve certainly created dangers on the left, maybe someone else could’ve been asked a sacrifice to cover up.
“There’s Morata already running like a desperate. Leao always played great games against Napoli, if he feels good, you should keep him on the pitch as long as possible.
“If he’s not fit, it’s a different thing. But he’s the strongest player in the team, if he can, he must play. He could’ve taken advantage of his speed [against Napoli]. In my opinion, he should do it even more, especially when he doesn’t have the ball.
“He wants the ball on his feet too often. He can easily run past his opponents; he should run without the ball and then shoot with a single touch, avoiding all that dribbling. He must get more complete: in this way, he would scare his opponents even more.
“The manager should fully recover him. From here until the end of the season, he should spend his time on the pitch, not on the bench. He has his own features, we’ll never see Leao killing himself by making defensive tackles. Behaviours are a different thing, and it’s right that Leao must have a proper attitude.
“However, he won’t ever be a generous player; it’s a matter of character. Morata has always been like that, he’s not. There are players, that often share his same characteristics, that have a similar attitude – Cassano comes to my mind, you have to be on his back all the time.
“Rafa exaggerates at times, he plays the ball back very slowly with his head dangling: it’s annoying for the fans. You can make that pass more quickly and with a different attitude, but persuading him to do things in a certain way is within the manager’s tasks.
“The team-mates can also push him and he’ll understand sooner or later, as he’s not stupid. I would’ve expected more harmony between the two [Leao and Fonseca], I thought the relationship would be easier as they speak the same language.”