Rafael Leao remains the centre of attention for AC Milan, even after he provided the assist for the winning goal against Verona.
Corriere dello Sport (via MilanPress) describe the Leao situation as one that is ‘becoming increasingly paradoxical’ because while he remains decisive on the pitch, his bond with the fans seems to be declining and he could leave in the summer.
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The Portuguese’s performance levels have dropped considerably in recent months, as have those of almost all his team-mates, but his contribution to results remains very high.
Help or hinderance
Leao remains the most decisive player in the squad on a statistical level: thanks to his nine goals and three assists in Serie A so far, he has earned 15 points for Milan. This is only less than the 17 obtained by Napoli from Rasmus Hojlund’s contributions.
As mentioned, however, his relationship with the fans is at an all-time low. In the last few games at San Siro – especially against Udinese at the time of the substitution – he was jeered because he was considered indecisive and too lazy, even though he was the most present of the attackers.
Allegri, however, continues to consider him very important and always fields him in the starting XI, even if he almost always takes him off during the match. This is something that has angered Leao, as seen in the games against Lazio and even on Sunday against Verona.
Despite the coach’s esteem, the former Lille star could leave in the summer. According to various sources, the management could let him go for an offer of €45-50m to make room for a more natural striker.
“– he was jeered because he was considered indecisive and too lazy, even though he was the most present of the attackers”……..That shows the jeers was more of personal vendetta rather than output, its racial profiling by some miscreant masquerading as fan
Disgruntled fans fewer than the real fans and management alike better knows what they are doing
These New Generation players are soft. No Heart. No intensity, No fighting spirit.
Leao Could never survive in a team where let me say Gattuso played in. He would be crying everyday cause of his desire.
even modric at 50 years will have more fighting spirit and determination that Leao currently. These guys think Milan is a Joke.
We need players with real personality. Not these tik tok players.
Maldini, Nesta, Cafu, Seerdof, Pirlo, GATTUSO, Fighters, Even Kaka with his kindness and shyness had more heart. Better we sell him then loose him on a free a few years later.
Leao is what Leao is. We either keep him in his preferred position and build a system beneficial to all players. Or if we decide to move to a system with two strikers, we sell Leao and bring in the players to play that.
All this huffing & puffing about Leao this… Leao that… is utterly pointless. The fanbase is too divided, no one sees down the middle anymore. It’s either pro Puli or pro Leao based on the eye test. While if we look at the numbers, last 2-3 years their actual measurable contributions have been nearly identical…
I am bothered by the fact that your two most prolific scorers have been neutralized. I read on a Barca site that they are not heavily interested in Leão because of his lack of defensive positioning, pressing, and general positioning in Flick’s system. Unfortunately in a 3-5-2 he has to play as a 9 because of his lack of defense. Is he going to run 10-12 km a game? As a true sprinter I don’t think it’s laziness, I think it’s his muscle type.
No one has to run in Allegri’s boring system. We are playing unwachable. This wanker costed us Pirlo at 2011, now we’re gonna lose Leao for ony €50M ? Ffs