Diogo Leite: Who is Milan’s latest defensive target | OneFootball

Milan have been linked with a move for Union Berlin defender Diogo Leite, so we take a look at who the 25-year-old defender is.

Milan will be looking for a new centre-back in the 2024 summer transfer window and according to Sky Sport Italia, the latest defender the Serie A giants are monitoring is the Portuguese Diogo Leite.

A product of Leixões SC, Padroense FC and FC Porto Academy, Diogo Leite made 51 senior appearances with the Dragões before joining Braga in 2021.

Leite mostly plays as a centre-back, even if he can cover the left-back position in emergencies.

Diogo Leite: Who is Milan’s latest defensive target

The Portuguese spent the last two seasons at Union Berlin, collecting 80 appearances with the Bundesliga side. He has also made 10 Champions League appearances so far in his career and 16 in the Europa League but has yet to make his senior debut with Portugal’s national team.

Milan have decided to part company with Simon Kjaer at the end of his contract, and, as reported by Goal.com, Leite ticks many boxes for the Rossoneri, given that he’s still relatively young and has room for improvement.

Leite is a left-footed centre-back with great physicality, being 1,90 m tall, and can easily partner with Fikayo Tomori in Milan’s defence.

As highlighted by his season heatmap, provided by Sofascore, he’s a defender who quite likes to run forward and press high. However, his tactical attitude will clearly be decided by the new coach coming to Milan, predictably his compatriot Paulo Fonseca.

Stats suggest Leite can be pretty good for build-up play as well, with 89% accurate passes in his own half and 68% accurate passes in the opposition half. Despite his height, he only scored one goal in 40 appearances across all competitions in 2023-24 so he may need to improve in aerial duels from set pieces in the opposition box.

Defensively, he averaged 4.5 clearances per game and the same number of balls recovered in 2023-24, adding 1.5 interceptions on average in each match.