Fonseca treatment, ROI concerns and Scudetto race: Leao’s turning point crucial | OneFootball

An important clash awaits AC Milan, taking on Juventus at San Siro, and Rafael Leao has seemingly regained top form at just the right moment. For the Rossoneri, his presence will be essential in the coming months.

It has been an inconsistent start to the season for Milan, with five wins, three draws and three defeats, and this has also extended to the individual performances. From Theo Hernandez to Rafael Leao, there hasn’t exactly been a lack of turbulence since Paulo Fonseca took over.

The biggest disappointment was undoubtedly Leao, though, perhaps fueled by his ‘lazy look’ by nature and Fonseca putting him on the bench. However, after just one goal in the first nine league appearances, he has now scored three goals in the last three games between club and country.

A turning point

As highlighted by the well-known journalist Carlo Pellegatti, the game against Real Madrid acted as a turning point for the No.10. More specifically, the shot that was saved by the goalkeeper – the rebound converted by Alvaro Morata – finally made something click in Leao’s head.

“It all started with the shot saved by Lunin against Madrid. This was the first time I saw Leao like a striker in the centre of the area. I had never seen a turn from Leao as a pure striker. Then the header on Emerson Royal’s cross. Against Cagliari two goals inside the area: in the second goal he almost looked like Inzaghi,” he stated.

Indeed, he followed that striker’s instinct up with a brace against Cagliari, making two great runs towards the centre of the pitch. After struggling with his finishing and decision-making in the final third, he suddenly looked very comfortable and did everything just right.

The goal scored for Portugal last night, in the 5-1 win against Poland, fueled this narrative as he found the back of the net with a rare header. Seeing as Alvaro Morata isn’t always in and around the penalty spot, Leao adding more headers to his game would be fantastic for Milan.

Another important thing to mention is that Leao’s first kids – the twins Leonardo and Tiago – were recently born, prematurely we must add. It was announced after the draw against Cagliari as everything was deemed to be fully in order, which must have been a weight off Leao’s shoulders.

The games on the bench clearly did something right, so kudos to Fonseca for that, but it’s also possible that the birth of his kids played a part as well. After all, it’s understandable that he perhaps wasn’t able to focus fully on football during that time.

Looking ahead

Juventus are up next for Milan, as mentioned, and a win is definitely a must after the draw against Cagliari. Eight points separate the Rossoneri from the top of the standings and although they have a game in hand, the feeling is that the Bianconeri clash is the last Scudetto train.

A top performance will thus be needed from Fonseca’s men, as we saw against Real Madrid, and that also means a Leao in good form is needed. It seems like he can’t do anything wrong at the moment and you could thus argue that the turning point has come at just the right moment.

It would have been nicer to have him in top form from the start of the season, but sometimes players have to get knocked down to come back even stronger. Not to mention that Fonseca’s appointment has been a big change for everyone, so time was understandably needed for them to get on the same page.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

There is another important factor that must be mentioned here, namely his price tag. It’s not exactly a secret that his value is far from the €175m release clause currently, and although it will probably never be that high, there were some worrying months on this front.

If Leao can continue like this, then he will definitely become a €100m+ player again and that would be a huge relief for Milan. We must remember that in addition to the contract renewal, worth €5m per year plus bonuses, the Rossoneri also paid the €20m fine which increased the player’s value on the books to just under €50m.

Granted that the future resale clause of Lille – worth around 15-20% – was then removed, it’s clear that Milan invested a lot in Leao and making the renewal happen. You could almost describe it as putting all of their eggs in one basket, which is unusual for this management.

In any case, Milan need their No.10 in top form to compete for the Scudetto, just like Inter need Lautaro Martinez, Napoli need Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Juventus need Dusan Vlahovivc. And given just how much he adds, perhaps this is more true for the Rossoneri than the others.