Rafael Leao’s contract renewal negotiations with Milan have taken a concerning turn at the behest of Jorge Mendes.
As detailed by Calciomercato.com, Leao’s agent Jorge Mendes has been in constant talks with the Rossoneri for the last few months regarding a new contract but things have taken a sharp turn recently, with the 22-year-old Portuguese forward asking for a higher salary than the most recent offer.
The dispute between Sporting Lisbon and Lille has prompted Leao to pursue this higher salary, which is more than the €4.5m plus add-on offer made by Milan.
Jorge Mendes warned Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara that an English club have made serious enquiries about Leao and he could be sold for around €70 million.
A crucial factor in the talks is Investcorp; once the takeover is completed, it’s up to the Bahraini investment fund to decide if they want to match his higher requests or not.
#Milan, colpo di scena nella trattativa per il rinnovo del contratto a #Leao: cifre e dettagli https://t.co/7p9M81Hvxq pic.twitter.com/qRIIFP5aJH
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) April 28, 2022
another kessie, if this is the case, even if Leao is by far our best player now, good riddance
Clever ploy by the agent, he knows Milan is changing hands soon, so might as well test the water and try to milk the new owners. Let’s see if there’re any teams who are seriously interested.
sell him
70 million??? Sell, sell, sell.
Sell him asap
sell if any other club interested in 70-80 million.. with that money try to bring darwin nunez and move theo to LW and buy a decent LB or put rebic as LW
I bet it’s Newcastle. Sell please. Even if Investcorp comes in and can afford the higher salary. I’m done with extortionists. With 70m and the current summer bugdet (60-70m) we can fund an entire new attack and if Investcorp takes over it won’t even be a marginal issue. Only players who want to play for this club should wear the shirt.
Rebic as LW.. Back to mediocrity. Need to take steps forward if we are fighting for the title and Champions league. Rebic should be a backup and not a starter.
This is on Mendes trying to carve out a bigger commission seeing how important Leao is to the team and a takeover looming….
You guys are not looking at the bigger picture. He is still young and with some more experience and maturity this young man is going to be a star. The way that he dribbles and his unpredictability terrifies defenders. With more time he might find that consistency missing in his game. We need to keep our better players and add to that.
@ Milanista I agree with you completely with you on this. Leao is a big star in the making and I’m really surprised to see a lot of people here saying we should sell him because he’s asking for more money. The question is are we going to continue selling our best players because they ask for more? To me it’s a completely stupid strategy. How on earth can we build a winning team if we keep on selling our best players because they asked for more? Good players will always ask for higher pay to stay. It doesn’t mean they aren’t loyal. PSG are willing to give Mbappe 50 million and another 50 million sign on fee just to keep him. The fact is good players don’t come cheap. We can never reach the top if we maintain this policy.
4.5m is more than fair for him. He’s the best player on the team “on his day” but he’s not consistent yet. Wages more than that are for players who produce on a weekly basis.
If he doesn’t want to renew then sell him ASAP this summer.
@ 4-5 m i would sign him. Yes, he is very exciting when “on” and can change a game in a heartbeat. However…inconsistency is a big issue. I agree that he is young and that hopefully this aspect will be improved. However…if an offer came in @ 70-80 m…sell.
I really hope he does want to stay but if not, that kind of offer should be accepted ASAP. He could of course become a brilliant player but he could also become a left footed Adama Traore, all pace and not much else.
I hear what the people are saying but as I said before he is still young and he will learn. If we get the petrodollars and can get better then that is one thing. However double edge sword here. I agree the club cannot be held to ransom but it also sends a message that our best players are always for sale. Football is a business but consistency is key. Liverpool have given both their manager and players the time to gel and look at the success. Remember when Chelsea sold Salah and even De Bruyne and look at them now. Remember Juventus once a upon a time gave up on Henry and more recently on Coman. Look at their careers and what they have achieved. There are not many others players in the world at the moment that can go past his opponent with ease and at full speed unless you’re prime Messi or Ronaldo.
Milanista…valid points & all true.