In keeping with their promise to invest in promising,
talented young players who would stay at Milan for a long time, the club have
invested in 20-year-old striker Rafael Leão. Despite their quest for other forwards
this transfer market, they stepped up in the market and believed in the young
Portuguese player and invested €28m plus selling Tiago Djalo to Lille in order
to make this deal happen. Whatever else you could criticize about this
management, it definitely seems like they are moving forward.
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| Milan's future? |
Born Rafael Alexandre Conceição Leão, he grew up in Sporting
Lisbon’s youth system. After making 12 appearances with the reserve team and
scoring seven goals in those matches, he was called up for the first team for
three appearances, scoring one goal. However, there was an incident in which
the players and staff were attacked during a training, and Leão terminated his
contract with Sporting because of this, making him a free agent. So last
summer, he signed for Lille, and made 24 appearances, scoring eight goals.
When Milan came calling, he accepted because of Milan’s
commitment to young players. In his press conference yesterday, he said that it
was “a dream to be here,” and that “they
showed that they really want me and that they strongly believe in me, and for a
young player like me, that is the most important thing.” Ironically,
former Sporting reserve teammate, Tiago Djalo, whom Milan had brought in only
seven months ago, went the other way, joining Lille for a fee of only €5m.
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| Representing Portugal's youth teams |
For a player so young, he carries a lot on his shoulders,
having been compared to Mbappe, and Ronaldo. He does not like the comparisons,
and admits that he has a lot to improve upon. He is wary of the tactical
difficulties in Serie A and confesses that he needs to improve on his
finishing. However, he is very powerful, and at 6’2” (1.88m) tall, he provides
an aerial threat up front that Milan have been lacking. He can play as a center
forward or a second striker, and said that he loves to provide assists, too.
One of my favorite things we’ve learned about him so far is about
his trademark goal celebration, where he looks as though he’s calling someone
on the phone. It came about because his dad couldn’t always come to his
matches, so he created the celebration as if he was calling his dad to tell him
that he scored a goal. In an age where people like to turn the attention all to
themselves, it’s refreshing to know that when he scores, he thinks of his
family.
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| A family oriented celebration while playing at Lille |
It is always difficult to tell whether youth players are the
real deal. It’s hard to know if a player like Leão, who has represented
Portugal at every level from U16 through the U21 teams, will come good or not.
But his attitude is very good, he seems humble and wanting to work hard, and he
is proud to be at a club like Milan. We’ve really only seen a few minutes of
him so far in the Milan jersey, so it’s hard to tell much at this point. But it
definitely seems like with a purchase like this, Milan are moving forward.
This post inspired by the music of
Temple of the Dog’s “Pushin Forward Back”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 1
Udinese vs. Milan
Sunday, August 25
• 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)