Arrigo Sacchi suggested that Milan are being held back by their focus on Rafael Leao, so Apollo Heyes explored just how much they rely on their star winger.
The 24-year-old Portuguese forward, who is the highest earner in the squad with a salary of €5m net per season, scored the only goal in the Rossoneri’s tight 1-0 win over Hellas Verona on Saturday, a key result after their disappointing performances against Inter and Newcastle United.
Whilst Leao has been in good form for Milan in the new season, scoring three goals and providing two assists in the first five games, his work attracted criticism from legendary Rossoneri coach Sacchi.
Read more: Sacchi explains why Leao is holding Milan back
Writing in La Gazzetta dello Sport, Sacchi suggested that the Portuguese winger’s “lack of tracking back” and “lack of participation” during games is holding the club back, feeling that “Milan exist mainly for the Portuguese winger”.
Looking at the underlying numbers, it’s clear that Leao is the core figure in Stefano Pioli’s squad, playing a fundamental role in their successes with his abilities in the final third, scoring regularly and quickly progressing play up the pitch on the left wing.
In the 2022-23 season, Milan scored 64 total goals from a combined xG of 58.8 – Leao netted 15 of these from a npxG (non-penalty expected goals) of 10.8, the most decisive ahead of striker Olivier Giroud, who scored 13 from a npxG of 10.4.
He took the most shots on average in the squad, 3.24 per 90 minutes, and produced the most shot-creating actions per 90 with 4.57. He involved his teammates fairly rarely, however, averaging only 31.4 attempted passes per 90.
The Portuguese winger hardly contributed defensively across the season, averaging just 0.3 attempted tackles per 90, 0.33 blocks per 90 and 0.3 clearances per 90.
These numbers paint a fairly clear picture of a purely attacking focused winger who is the obvious focal point of his team’s forward ventures, rarely tracking back to carry out any defensive duties.
The question is, then, should Leao be doing more for his teammates?
Another star winger in Serie A is Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, whose electrifying play was a key factor behind the Partenopei’s Scudetto success last season. Named the Serie A Most Valuable Player at the end of his debut season, how much did he contribute to his team in comparison to Leao?
The graph above shows where Leao and Kvaratskhelia are similar and different, with the former in blue and the latter in red. Various aspects of their play are essentially the same, like their total shots, shot-creating actions and successful take-ons. Others, however, are entirely different.
The most obvious difference between the two star wingers is their passing play; Kvaratskhelia attempts and completes far more passes than Leao – the Georgian attempted 1136 and completed 900, a significant amount more than the Portuguese’s 845 attempted and 595 completed.
Another gap between the two is their tackling. The Napoli man attempted 43 and won 23, whilst the Milan ace trailed far behind with eight attempts and seven successes. Kvaratskhelia also made 20 blocks to Leao’s nine, again showing his increased defensive contributions.
The comparison suggests that, on paper, Kvaratskhelia is more of a team player than Leao, fulfilling more defensive duties and working harder to involve his teammates in play whilst still managing to play a leading role in his team’s attacks.
In this context then, Sacchi’s comments do hold some weight, identifying a star who could be featuring in a move active role in order to drive Milan to victory, rather than waiting for his teammates so he can make the decisive contribution.
Words: @ApolloHeyes
As legendary and loved as Sacchi is by us Rossonero, he’s only half right in his opinion. Milan are heavily reliant on Giroud and Leao. Guys like Samu Chukwueze and Pulisic have to start stepping up.