In the summer of 2019 Milan paid Lille 23 Million for the transfer of Rafael Leao after selling cult hero Patrick Cutrone to Wolves for 22 Million. A player who had a good start to his senior career with Lille, Milan saw a lot of potential in Leao and saw his transfer in line with the vision of the club “Young talented players to take the club forward”
Leao made quite the splash in a sub appearence vs Feronikeli in a season friendly. His explosive pace combined with his slick dribbling skills dazzled fans. Marco Giampaolo gave him his first start vs Inter in the derby. Although he did give trouble to veteran Diego Godin, Godins’s experience kept him quiet but it was his goal against Fiorentina that fans really saw aproductive output.
But since then Leao has been blowing hot and cold. With the coming of Zlatan and Leao publically professing his admiration for Zlatan and his desire to work under the great, the revival of Rebic relegated Leao to the bench with Pioli opting for quick results instead of patient team building approach.
In this article, I aim to make a case for the young lad with an analysis on his strentghs and weakness and style of play. He seems to be a real promising player if given the right direction and patience.
PHYSICAL TRAITS
Foot: Right
Height: 6ft 2 inches (1.88 metres)
STYLE OF PLAY
Attacking the spaces
Rafael Leão has keen sense as a striker. A very important aspect for any striker of his style is the attack the space left by momentary disorganisation of the opposite team and this is a very important aspect for any playing in Serie A.
In this counter attacking sequence you can see how Rugani who foulded Rebic left his position to attack disposess Rebic and leaves space on that Right side. The ball is loose and Rafael Leão (collects the ball from point 1) attacks the space and as we all know he scores a wonderful goal
Positioning
Leao always looks to position himself closer to the last man’s shoulders. This enables him to use his pace and get past his last man. This is effective especially during counter attacks
In this picture you can see how he is close to the shoulder of the last man as Calabria plays a vertical pass and Leao collects it and turns with a bit of skill to put it into the path of the onrushing Calabria for the goal against Bologna.
Link up play
Rafael Leão also has good ball playing abilities along with his skill and often drops deeper to participate in build up play often becoming the 3rd option for the player in posession to pass to. In this example below he drops deeper (from Point 1 to Point 2) allwoimg Theo to make a overlapping run drawing the defender out of position and giving space for theo to make the run. He uses Theo as a decoy to put in a diagonal ball for Zlatan who missed a goal by inches.
In the same you can see how Samu and Leao (who recived the ball from Ibra) link up play for trying to cut open Cagilari’s resolute defence.
Making Intelligent runs
Leão makes intelligent quick runs to catch defenders unaware which brings about unpredictablity in attacking play. You can see below as to how Leao caught Cagilari’s defence out when samu was taking a set piece. He spotted Leao making the run and put a vertical pass which Leão scored
AREAS TO IMPROVE
Hold-Up Play
A prime reason for Milan to improve their attack this seaosn has been hold up play from Ibrahimoviç. With his huge frame and physique, Zlatan has the technique as well to hold the ball until one of Milan’s other attackers have made runs. If Leao can improve on that aspect which can make him more and more of a complete striker.
Aerial Ability
Leão has good height for a striker. 6ft 2 inches at 21 years of age should.make him bit more dominant in the air. He has recently showed improvement but is yet to be an imminent threat from Set pieces.
Defensive work-rate
As a unit, Leao should show a bit more work-rate to help his teammates out in defence to press effectively and start quick counters.
CONCLUSION
Leao is only 21 years old. He is hungry for success and has showing impatience. He needs to emulate work ethic of his idol Zlatan and be patient. Because if he keeps going at this rate and works hard he will definetly be the best striker in Milan and definetly be the future of Milan.
The Milan Blog 