GdS: Furlani’s intervention, Fonseca’s help – how Milan are tackling the Leao ‘torment’

SempreMilan

·24 Oktober 2024

GdS: Furlani’s intervention, Fonseca’s help – how Milan are tackling the Leao ‘torment’

The situation surrounding Rafael Leao continues to attract attention from the media, and details have emerged regarding how AC Milan are handling it internally.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, two nights ago Noah Okafor took over from Leao and made an instant impact. Okafor wears the 17 shirt in honour of Leao, who wore it before him, and Rafa has called him a ‘little brother’ several times because of their great friendship.

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A sign of dejection

When the Swiss forward unlocked the match against Club Brugge, with the assist to Tijjani Reijnders, Leao simply raised his arms and then sat down on the bench. He participated in the celebrations for Francesco Camarda’s disallowed goal, but immediately went to the dressing room at full-time while the team celebrated under the Curva Sud.

Not only that, but Leao left the stadium less than 15 minutes after full-time, with his head down, backpack on his shoulder and a small suitcase in hand. He also had a Brugge shirt (presumably that he had swapped) and some black slippers on his feet.

Leao realises that he is in a difficult, even unfortunate moment. As (bad) luck would have it, Milan turned into the Champions League immediately after after he was taken off the pitch, and while the winger had not performed badly, it comes after he was left on the bench for 90 minutes against Udinese.

Furlani’s intervention

The bitterness remains: Leao would still like to be more incisive and decisive, beyond fate and the events that involve the team, but he is not in the best physical condition. Yesterday the CEO Giorgio Furlani spoke about it with the player’s entourage and the summary of the meeting is that Leao is down in the dumps but is just waiting for an opportunity to pull himself together.

There are no particular problems with the coach, what is certain is that for the first time there is a winning Milan even without Leao. For once it feels like a team that can afford to do without him and it is no coincidence that for the next match against Bologna the Portuguese faces a real fight with Okafor for his spot.

On the other hand, the club believes that Rafa is the best player on the team and that in the long run there cannot be a great Milan without him, therefore Leao will have to be recovered as best as possible and made increasingly involved.

It is a task that obviously falls on Fonseca’s desk. The management will do everything possible to ensure that the coach and player find a winning feeling again, without however intervening in the selection choices that he makes. The club do not see any kind of saga, and on the contrary they are trying to shield him by also involving the coach.

Of course Leao will have to do his bit: the nine dribbles against Brugge did not lead to anything effective so more precision, greater concentration, certainly a different application and spirit are needed. A great play is not enough if it is not accompanied by a game with sacrifice in the non-possession phase.

The mission begins

Today Leao is also disappointed with himself for not being able to contribute (he has one goal and four assists this season) and he has lost his smile but wants to do everything to find it again. On social media he is cryptic: “God only knows how pure my heart is” he wrote yesterday. Then, under Francesco Camarda’s latest post: “You are a true Milan fan, my little one.”

Leao’s negative moment has – fortunately for Milan, unfortunately for him – coincided with a positive phase for the other forwards. Fonseca expects the former Lille man to put into practice the intention of proving his worth again starting from the next few training sessions at Milanello.

The knot, however, remains and will only be resolved in the next few days. In any case, the future does not go beyond the next match and they are not thinking about what will happen with Leao in January or in the summer.

If anything, it is the agent who will be able to look around: last summer some signals had arrived from Barcelona, who however remain in financial crisis. If it resolves its economic problems, will they try again? Who knows, but the only option on the table at the moment is Milan.