If Milan were to sell Rafael Leao with two weeks left of the transfer window, they’d demand €150m from Chelsea, but remain more focused on giving the Portuguese talent a massive pay increase.
The reports over the last couple of days have propelled Leao to the forefront of the transfer market, as Chelsea continue to spend big this summer under new owner Todd Boehly.
Even by Premier League standards, €150m would be a huge fee, but Milan know they cannot afford to let him go for less.
The €150m release clause is no longer active, as it doesn’t run into the final two weeks of the transfer session.
Any negotiation would have to take into account the €16m owed to Sporting Lisbon over the unilateral rescission of his previous contract and the 15% cut of the sell-on fee agreed with Lille.
The only reason why Milan might even consider a sale is because Leao’s current contract runs to June 2024 and negotiations are in full swing with agent Jorge Mendes over an extension.
A massive pay rise is inevitable, as Leao is still on the same €1.5m per season salary he agreed when first moving to San Siro in 2019.
He just turned 23, but after being voted MVP in Serie A for the Scudetto-winning campaign, wants to be the top earner at the club.
It had been reported the parties were close to agreeing for €4.5-5m per season, but that was before the interest from Chelsea pushed the figures up to €7m.
At the same time, there is a different element in the Rossoneri’s favour, namely that new owner Gerry Cardinale and RedBird will officially take charge from September.
Leao can be seen as a marquee moment for the takeover, after several years of penny-pinching on salaries and transfers to the point of extreme frustration from their fans.
Franck Kessie, Hakan Calhanoglu, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Alessio Romagnoli were all allowed to leave for free rather than meet their wage demands, but Leao is a different player and Milan under RedBird will be a different club.
This is news and a complete surprise — that the €150 million release clause does not apply in the last 2 weeks of the transfer session – what is the reason behind it? and does it make any sense?
any explanations please?
At a guess, maybe so he can’t be poached in the last few weeks of the window? More surprising to me is that he thinks he should be the highest paid player at the club.
Tell me about it @DB Milan we all know that Origi should be highest paid
He needs to be paid, to be sure, but hopefully not to the financial detriment of the club. Milan‘s continued success needs a player of Leao’s calibre…here’s to hoping he can be retained long term for Milan.
This is the right course to take. Leao is our player and must be kept. He’s inconsistent but on his day makes the difference and there are a few players like that around, which would demand crazy wages anyway.
I expect Redbird to push the salary limit higher as well as giving Maldini a bigger transfer budget.