Chelsea quoted €100m price for winger as Jorge Mendes pulls the strings | OneFootball

CalcioMercato in Italy have once again gone with a strong line on reported Chelsea interest in Rafael Leao of AC Milan.

That club is in a bad way right now, and Leao is an asset who could be sold off as they look to clear house in the summer. He’s got a deal until 2028 which is becoming a burden for them. Chelsea, along with clubs in Saudi Arabia, are named as a potential destination:

“The Blues will try to exploit the support of [Leao’s agent] Jorge Mendes, but with the awareness that for less than €100m the Rossoneri would not even open a first discussion.”

The piece insists that the Italian club want to keep him, but it’s also pretty clear that if they want to rebuild from the ground up, selling him for a good price would be a vital part of any rebuild. For now they’re focused on trying to get into the Champions League places, with a huge clash against Napoli tonight a major part of that.

Leao feels a long shot for Chelsea despite constant links

Rafael Leao of AC Milan with a Chelsea logo. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

One the one hand, Leao just doesn’t feel like a great fit for this Chelsea model.

With the piece putting a price tag of €100m (at least) on the Portugal star, it just feels like a non starter. Chelsea’s new model is moving them away from buying established players and towards young talent. This would be blowing all that up – for a winger who has yet to even really prove he can consistently perform at a €100m level, for all his talent.

On the other hand

Or is this all coming from Mendes, trying to talk up interest in his client by mentioning the Blues? That feels as likely to us as anything.