Rafael Leao seems to be drifting away from his previous status as AC Milan’s star man and match-winner, so much so that he was dropped from the starting XI today.
La Gazzetta dello Sport acknowledge that the results do not help the general feeling surrounding the club and above all do not help situations in the balance such as that of the Portuguese winger and his future at the club.
However, if the issue of his contract was slow-moving and difficult when Milan were still in the fight to defend their title as champions, things are not helped by what has been an awful start to 2023 and the battle that awaits just to finish in the top four.
There was some surprise when Stefano Pioli chose to leave Leao out of the line-up with Ante Rebic in his place because Milan are in a position where they need to cling to those who are potentially able to win games. Pioli explained his decision as follows: “It’s a choice dictated by the conditions, Rafa played a lot and lost a bit of brilliance.”
The article mentions that it was a technical choice, but could also disguise a form of ‘punishment due to his attitude in the last few games’. There are two streams of thought: the first is that Leao is an excellent player but he is not a champion yet so he suffers from drops in form as others do, while the second is that it is right to expect more in difficult moments from those with above-average ability.
Leao is struggling on the field and has since scoring against Lecce, and away from the pitch there will no doubt be thoughts swirling around his head about the best road to take for his future. Progress on the contractual situation has now ceased for a few weeks and we have returned to a stalemate, so choices like today certainly don’t help.
