Milan Attempting to Ease Growing Tension with Leao | OneFootball

Milan are trying to appease the simmering Rafael Leao case, who has ceded minutes for the first time since breaking out and hasn’t been his best self in recent fixtures. The Rossoneri pretty much depended on him, at least offensively, in recent seasons. That is no longer the case.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via OneFootball), the brass wants to avoid a prolonged controversy. The attacker displayed clear signs of unhappiness and dejection after being subbed off versus Club Brugge. His replacement Noah Okafor provided an assist almost instantaneously.

CEO Giorgio Furlani reached out to the entourage of Leao to explain that the star remains crucial for their success, especially if they want to fight for lofty goals. The team is willing to wait for him to get going as long as necessary. After all, he’s the highest-paid player in the squad.

The management won’t interfere with the coach’s decisions. The duel with Okafor will continue in the next few matches. The Portuguese speedster was benched against Udinese and didn’t play at all also due to an early red card.

Milan would prefer for the Leao situation to be resolved naturally and positively rather than having to address it via the transfer market. Things would really need to spiral for a January departure to become a possibility, which is very unlikely.

Barcelona were the only team that showed a decent amount of interest in him in the previous window. On the other hand, there weren’t the conditions to even start a negotiation due to the Blaugrana’s financial problems.