What Rafael Leao can do to reach an even higher level after AC Milan renewal

SempreMilan

·4 giugno 2023

What Rafael Leao can do to reach an even higher level after AC Milan renewal

Rafael Leao has become the real superstar of this AC Milan side and the man who the Rossoneri have relied on numerous times over the past two years to win the Scudetto and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.

A lot of Milan fans would say that Leao, along with Mike Magnian and perhaps Sandro Tonali and Theo Hernandez, is arguably the most important player in this side, and they would not be wrong to say so.

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With the Portuguese player renewing his deal until 2028, he has shown his loyalty and love towards the red and black shirt, but this is also a strong signal from the club too about how serious the project is.

So, with Leao having extended his stay with us until 2028 at least, it would be a good idea to look at which areas he can work on to take his game to the next level and get closer to becoming the best left winger in the world, and maybe one day challenge for the Ballon d’Or.

Other than Vinicius junior, there are not many left wingers in world football better than Leao, but there is still the general consensus that he is not quite at the level of the Brazilian superstar. What can he do to reach that next level?

Consistency

The first thing that Leao needs to work on is his consistency. He has had many great moments in a Milan shirt and has won a number of games on his own, with the hat-trick of assists against Sassuolo to seal the title, the brace against Inter in the derby earlier this season and the solo run against Napoli in the Champions League springing to mind.

As great as these moments have been, however, there have been times in which Rafa has been off form and not as effective as he can be. The start of this calendar year is a great example, as he failed to find the back of the net for over 12 games.

Part of that was down to Pioli for playing him out of position but when you are as good as Leao is, that is a very long off period for his standards. He needs to start becoming decisive more regularly.

Decision making

Another thing that Leao needs to do is add more goal contributions into his game. In all fairness, he has been improving on this aspect every season since being here, as he has come a long way from the seven goal contributions (6G, 1A) in his first season.

In the 2022-23 campaign he is up to 21 goal contributions (13G, 8A) with a game still left to go in the league. Although his numbers this season have been great, us Milan fans know he can hit double figures in both goals and assists as well as push for 20+ goals in a league season.

Additionally, with the acquisition of a top striker as Milan are expected to make this summer, his numbers should naturally go up with the attacking threat more spread and more space to exploit.

Hard yards

Finally, one thing that Leao needs to up is his work rate. This goes under the radar at times and in the past Simon Kjaer has also joked around by saying that they do not mind as long as Leao wins games, but if he tracked his man it would make our powerful left flank even more dangerous.

This season, there have been a few incidents in which Theo Hernandez was left with two men to try and cover because the Portuguese winger did not track back and that can hurt the balance of the side.

Overall, Milan fans are rightly over the moon about Leao renewing, given he is the one player in the squad who is capable of deciding games on his own and he continues to make the fans at San Siro stand on their feet.

Once the ex-Lille man improves on the aspects listed above he will be a force to be reckoned with, but despite all that one thing Leao should never change about his game is his smile. Whenever he plays with that smile, he brings a joy to us Milan fans, something we all missed since the times of Ronaldinho.