It’s no secret that Milan are open to considering offers for their star forward Rafa Leão. And why they are receiving offers, none of them have come close to prise him away from San Siro.
The Rossoneri recently rejected a €35m offer from Galatasaray, while journalist Ben Jacobs has revealed that the 27-year-old was recently offered to several Premier League clubs, one of them being Leeds United.
Milan want close to €50 million for Leão, who in turn will want his suitors to at least match his current €7m-per-year contract, if not offer him an improved one.
But amidst all of this, with pre-season drawing to a close and the new season upon us, one must ask: is it really that untenable for Leão in Milan? Could he not stay?
He very much can and, in fact, that is something he may want to do.
Leão was widely criticised last season for his lack of output in front of goal, the San Siro faithful having let him know in no uncertain terms how they felt about it.
But Leão was hardly the only culprit in Milan’s frontline, which came apart spectacularly, and that too as a unit. From Christian Pulisic, Christopher Nkunku, to Niclas Füllkrug, no forward concluded the previous season with a save-facing individual campaign.
When players of similar disposition come apart in this manner, the issue is hardly individual and almost wholly institutional. And there’s plenty of that going around in the red half of San Siro.
Milan have, simply put, not gone about starting their new era of revamped vision inspiring much confidence. There’s not much there to hint at there being proper foundations for prolonged success. Nevertheless, they have the tools to make a go for it in the here and now, which is what new coach Ruben Amorim and his player will try to focus on — do what they can.
Leão has two years remaining on his contract. It is hard to imagine that his 2026/27 campaign would be worse than the previous one. He will have a point to prove, as does Amorim after his ill-fated time in Manchester. And in his compatriot’s 3-4-2-1 setup, Leão would fit nicely on that left-hand side role, where he could dictate proceedings with the ball at his feet as almost a wide No. 10.
And then, he and Amorim are hardly the only ones with a point to prove; the team let themselves down collectively with a final-day tumble down the Serie A table, and they’ll want to make the most of their time in the Europa League — and that goes for the new arrivals, players who hardly played last season and will have a clean slate to stake a claim for a spot in the starting XI, as well as those who had the most opportunities to deliver for the team but failed to meet expectations.
After all that, if Leão performances were to not improve, or if Amorim decided he really didn’t need him after all, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that teams from England to Türkiye would still be open to making a deal in the region of €30–40 million for him both in January and next summer. Is he worth taking such a risk? Absolutely.
It was not too long ago that Leão was regarded as one of the best forwards in the game. What those performances delivered, and the potential they teased, is what teams remember and will use as reference as they consider moving for him.
And while Milan are understandably looking to move him on, both they and Leão can afford to give it another go and see if they can’t work things out between themselves. If they really can’t this season, there’ll be more opportunities for that impending goodbye.
Anshuman Joshi | GIFN
