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The €150m release clause is no longer active, as it doesn’t run into the final two weeks of the transfer session.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.