AC Milan have seemingly set their asking price for Rafael Leao ahead of the summer transfer window, at least according to Matteo Moretto.
Leao’s career at Milan to this point has been a strange one, alternating seasons of stardom like his Serie A MVP in the 2021-22 title-winning campaign with much more difficult ones. Still, the Portuguese has amassed 80 goals and 65 assists in 290 competitive matches for Milan, having arrived in 2019.
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This season in particular has been up and down for the former Lille star. Massimiliano Allegri identified him as an ideal centre-forward in his 3-5-2 system but he is yet to fully convince there, despite hitting double figures for goals across all competitions.
Moretto: Milan could accept €45m for Leao
This has led to speculation that a summer sale is possible, and for well below the €175m clause in his deal. Speaking in a video on Fabrizio Romano’s YouTube channel, Matteo Moretto offered the latest on the fate that might await Leao, even stating the figure that Milan have in mind.
“Let’s start today’s video by talking about Rafa Leao, talking about Milan, in short, Leao who returned to Verona from the point of view of contributing to a goal, because the assist for Adrien Rabiot’s winning goal was from Leao,” he began.
“Leao who was then substituted after a positive performance, but the Portuguese player’s future at Milan remains very uncertain, because it’s true that Leao has a contract that still expires until 2028, there were some negotiations underway for a possible extension, especially from a temporal point of view, not so much from a financial point of view.
But Milan, while waiting to officially get back in the Champions League, have certainly put several situations on hold. We’ll see if, after these situations will be taken up again. But the news, in any case, the point I would like to focus on today is precisely the fact that Leao could certainly become a valid name to keep for the summer transfer window for Milan.
“Clearly, it depends on the offer, but from what we understand, if an offer of around €50m were to arrive, a bit more with bonuses, then surely around this figure of €45-50m, Milan could also consider it. It’s true that in the past, Barcelona have considered him more than once.
“The Barça president has been shown the door several times but I can add that in this Barça, Leao doesn’t generate a total consensus, a unanimity. He has certainly also been proposed again to Barcelona in recent weeks. Barcelona will, however, consider a long list of players in that role.
“Well, Rashford is at the top, also because Rashford negotiations are cooling off a bit partly due to the financial cost of the operation, partly due to the boy’s performance. As of today, Barcelona are also considering alternatives to Rashford. Leao is an idea, but as of today, he’s not at the top of Barça’s list.
“We’ll see later if anything changes, if the transfer market will lead the two clubs to talk about Leao. Leao would certainly be open to a possible move to the Blaugrana, but as of today, there are no negotiations between the clubs nor contacts with the agent.
“There’s a positive response but it’s not unanimous within the Blaugrana management, so we’ll see, we’ll update you on the matter. But certainly, Leao is a name to keep in mind for Milan’s summer transfer window. Then we’ll better understand what to do and the paths Leao could take.”