Rafael Leao is the talk of the town once again when it comes to AC Milan, and not for his decisive assist against Hellas Verona.
La Gazzetta dello Sport report that Leao’s afternoon in Verona epitomised his rollercoaster season. At the Bentegodi, he produced the game’s only bit of quality: the perfect assist for Rabiot, which earned Massimiliano Allegri’s team the three points.
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However, the coach took him off after just over an hour, astonishing Rafa who politely demanded an explanation. “You can’t play with 12 men,” Max slyly replied after the match. Leao was replaced by Santiago Gimenez, who didn’t particularly shine. Why is it Leao who always seems to come off?
Time to say goodbye?
Leao, as is well known, has been plagued by pubalgia for months. Yet, in the second half of the season, he played every game except those against Bologna (he was benched for 90 minutes) and Torino (not called up).
He often gritted his teeth, certainly not being able to perform at his best, especially in a position – centre-forward – that isn’t exactly the his favourite. Leao hasn’t scored since March 1st, in the 2-0 win over Cremonese, and his performances have been disappointing at times.
This was the case in the last match at San Siro against Udinese, when the Milan fans booed him loudly. Rafa has always been divisive, and if the Rossoneri don’t win, he often finds himself at the centre of the storm.
Leao is considered – along with the out of form Christian Pulisic – the only forward capable of winning matches with individual flair. At the same time, his defensive contribution is too lacking to force Allegri to move him to the wing.
These last considerations cast doubt on his future. Leao’s contract expires in 2028, but never before have the Rossoneri and Rafa been so distant from each other. Milan don’t consider him unsellable, and Leao could be seriously open to leaving for the first time, perhaps boosted by a strong World Cup.
At the moment, however, there are no concrete offers yet, only rumours, like the one about Barcelona. The Blaugrana don’t appear to be willing to buy Marcus Rashford from Manchester United and could turn to Rafa.
At what price? At the end of June, Leao’s balance sheet will be just over €11m. Every euro above that figure will be pure capital gains and this money could be useful in the hunt for a true centre-forward.
And what if Leao were to stay? Allegri will likely continue to use him as a centre-forward in a 3-5-2 into next season as well. Something has to give, or so it feels like.
I’d be proud of everyone if they stuck together and saw him through his current challenges.
Willing to bet that no one is considering a Leão sale.
Enough with all that.
Tweak your attacking formation, Coach. Do better with giving the boys clear instructions on buildup play. Get into it, very hands-on.
We are still making the same mistakes we made since two coaches ago :
Dead-end passes to players that can’t dribble themselves out.
Back “safe” passes during critical pivotal moments on attack.
Weak Inefficient press after conceding the ball to the opponents.
Little things that make the difference.
Good shout.
Good morning my ac milan.fans the only advice that I can give Rafael leao is to drop the no.10 jersey to go back to is formal no.17 or another number because the no.10 is not for just ordinary person the number is for legend players such as Boban,Rui Costa,seedorf,Ronadinho,Kaka,Ronaldo,Lautaro.M,Cahananolglu,Luka modric,Leo messi,Iniesta,Xavi,Zidane,mbape,Pirlo,Totti,Fabrigas and many more like that. So Rafael leao should drop the no.10 because is not for is caliber if he want to continue to score more goals every season he should stop wearing the no.10 jersey. There are some numbers that some players are not supposed to be wearing such as 10,7,6,3&1. Because those numbers are for non injury players who can last long in the team or any club that play for so Tnx Forza Milano.
Good to see SM still can’t tell poop from potatoes. How many times has gds said leao sell it imminent?
I don’t understand why people criticize him for not always playing well as a CF. He plays out of his best position and is still our current top goalscorer, but everyone knows it’s not his best position.
Did Zidane ever asked Gareth Bale to play CF? Did Ancelotti put Inzaghi as a trequartista or Gattuso as a playmaker?
People can complain if he performs badly as LW or doesn’t track back. But even for the latter, do people wonder if it couls be be part of the strategy to utilize your best counter attacker?
Ferguson did the same with Ronaldo at some point. Everyone had to defend, except him.
Agree 100%. Prime Leao was covered by Tonali and Kessie – no defending required. The crime was replacing neither.
👍👍👍
Bale did play LB, LW and RW.
Ancelotti did switch Pirlo from AM to a deep lying play maker.
It is possible for players to adapt to a new position.
Leao has all of the characteristics to be a CF. He’s got the physicality, the delicacy of touch, the eye for goal, and, yes, he can drift either side of the attack and dribble.
I don’t think the issue is his position. He’s not been in a great physical condition this season and recently he (like Pulisic) has lost confidence.
I also think perhaps playing BOTH Leao and Pulisic in new positions was a mistake.
Again I can see the logic of two players who can drift wide and create space for Rabiot and Fofana to break through the middle like what lead to the goal against Verona.
It’d be interesting to see if they were given more time. But they won’t be, and probably can’t afford more time.
A new striker is an obvious area where Milan can improve this summer BUT that striker has to bring guaranteed goals.
More than 10. More than 20 probably.
Given the numerous strikers and combinations of strikers Milan have had that certainly isn’t guaranteed.
Lewandowski is probably the only available striker they could sign that would have a chance of succeeding.
It’s on a knife edge. If the new striker scores Milan could win the Scudetto. If he doesn’t the team could unravel as we see more chopping and changing.
Bale indeed played in CF at Madrid here and there. Leao is an athlete. The highest paid one in Milan that is. Why can’t he adapt to the position is the right question to ask. It’s not like we asked him to play in central midfield or something. Too many cases that we’ve seen players have no problem in playing several forward roles (wing and center forward). Mbappe, Ronaldo, Dembele, Henry, Mane, etc etc.
The point is why do we have to adapt and force our system to fit Leao? If we trust the journey to Allegri, and looks like he’ll continue using 352 (with variations any time needed), we really need to weigh our options.
I don’t want him to go, but I do want to persist with the 3-5-2, just with proper strikers.
I think it’s time to sell – stop trying to bend a top player into a system he can’t play and use the money to sign a top player who fits into it naturally.
But forever grateful.
But what I don’t understand is that, as poor as he is been adjudged to be, even with injury and playing out of position, he is still the best attacker we have, last i check 10goals and 3 assist. why should we sell? for what reason? he is still the ONLY player that can singlehandedly win a match for us, yet we want to sell and buy who?
To be clear, I don’t think he’s been poor – just that he’s our best asset and we are underutilising him.
My comment is in no way a criticism of Leao, only about swapping a top winger for a top striker, and purely on the basis that we don’t need wingers and we do need strikers. Whilst it’s dangerous changing too much, I’d argue the same about Pulisic too.
I’m not going to name names because then it because about whether you agree on various players’ pedigree, but we need a link man and a true striker who can both play with their backs to goal – our current options simply don’t play that way. Annoyingly with had this last season in Jovic and Tammy, but who am I to question the wisdom of the board 🙄.
We also need a ball carrying midfielder but that’s for a different conversation.
There’s no possibility he’s just carrying an injury and lacking in confidence?
After his assist against Verona the ball went into him and he flicked on his head before being fouled.
It was a brief glimpse of the old Leao.
Leao and Pulisic have both struggled with injuries this season, and are now both lacking in confidence after they both had good starts to the season playing in the new positions.
These things take time. Partnerships take time. Milan have churned through strikers and the vast majority have struggled (only Ibra, Giroud, Bacca, Balo, and Menez (???) have succeeded in the last 15 years).
I’m not against a new striker this summer because strikers win titles. But….the chances of the new striker succeeding are the same as me guessing the exact bet in roulette.
Probably the safest approach is to sign Lewandowski and keep both Leao and Pulisic as known quantities.
All three can play together and they can sign another as a fourth or back Camarda.
You said yourself on here last week it’s probably the right time now but ok.
You are contrary for the sake of it which is quite sad.
You’re also incapable of differentiating between acts of dualism and mere posits.
You’re also boring.
I said it was about time for Leao?
Yes I did, and if he was sold I’d understand.
I definitely wouldn’t put his sale up there with the likes of sacking Maldini, selling Tonali or forcing out Calabria (after months of backgrounding him in the media).
I think you’re just update because I got upset with you for slagging off the team.
Someone around here (on this Milan blog) has to defend the Milan players against Milan fans….
can all this papers allow Leao to breadth? I am beginning to think there are agenda to run this club down. Leao this Leao that why?
I think that due to AC Milan tactic or low form of some players the club should decide to sell few guys on the end of season. 1) Leao 2) Gimenez 3) Nkunku 4) Tomori 4) Pulisic 5) Fullkrug 6) Jashari
.
In my opinion Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Igli Tare also should take responsibility and leave the club.
I am hoping Pulisic is sold. He needs to leave for his career. I’ve said as soon as they hired Allegri he doesn’t fit the system. Also, running 10-11 km a game was running him into the ground.
Agreed—Pulisic is too good a player to be wasted in Allegri’s system. At this point, I’d honestly rather see him move MLS than continue with AC Milan if Allegri is the future. If things stay as they are, it won’t take long for the fan base to turn on him. For everyone’s sake, it’s probably best to let him go this summer.
EVERY SEASONFOR THE PAST 4 YEARS TUE RUMOR IS LEAO IS BRING SOLD… USUALKY BY TUE SAME GUYS fabricating news out of BS rumors…playing to the anger of fans…8ts BS
Leao is not great this season. and ac milan is not great this season too. he is ac milan level. not scudetto winning or even top european elite level. with the current management, i think it is as good as it gets
“Why is it Leao who always seems to come off?”
What kind of propaganda is this? Until very recently, it was ALWAYS Pulisic who came off first. With no exceptions. No matter how he or Leao played, it was always Pulisic to be benched first (if Leao even was benched).