Here are today’s updates about Rafael Leao’s contract talks with Milan, including a deadline set by the club and the definitive representative chosen by the player.
Rossoneri directors expected to meet Leao’s agent today, but the striker’s father didn’t turn up at Casa Milan where family lawyer Ted Dimvula arrived in the late afternoon to inform the Serie A champions that he is the only man in charge of negotiations.
This means that Jorge Mendes is no longer a primary figure in the entourage of the Portuguese striker. Paolo Maldini said last month that interlocutors ‘had often changed’ during the preliminary round of negotiations with Leao’s representatives.
Dimvula is said to be a close friend of Leao’s father, but it was unexpected to see him meet Milan without the striker’s dad.
According to Sky Sport Italia, Milan hope to secure Leao’s signature before the World Cup begins because the club is aware that great performances in Qatar would further raise his salary demands, making his contract extension more complicated.
Leao currently gets less than €2m per season and Milan are reportedly open to offering more than €7m per year. The biggest issue, however, concerns a €19m fine that Leao owes to his former club Sporting CP and that the striker expects Milan to share with Lille.
The striker’s contract runs out in 2024, so the Rossoneri are aware that failing to reach an agreement in the coming weeks or months would force them to sell Leao in the summer to avoid seeing him leave for nothing in 2024, like Gigio Donnarumma, Hakan Calhanoglu, Frank Kessié and Alessio Romagnoli did in the recent past.