Sixty million, or forget it
Some meetings come down to a single number. This was one of them.
AC Milan sat down with Jorge Mendes and Rafael Leao’s representative and put the figure on the table without blinking: roughly 60 million euros to move the Portuguese winger on. Sky Sport Italia reckons something near 50 million with add-ons could still get a conversation going. Below that, nobody at Milanello is picking up the phone.
Galatasaray already found that out. Their bid, worth north of 40 million, went nowhere.
Try it for $0.99.
Nobody at Milan needs this deal
That is the whole story, really. The Rossoneri have spent this summer like a club buying, not a club balancing. Goncalo Ramos came in from PSG for 74 million, a club record. Diego Moreira cost another 60.
Clubs writing those cheques do not then sell their left winger to square the books. Mendes has been told, in effect, to come back with a better number or leave it alone.
He has a few days left to find one.
England is the variable
The Premier League is where this could still swing. The money is there, and Leao’s game travels well to that league. Nothing firm has surfaced, only a line doing the rounds in the Italian press.
Which leaves the part nobody has bothered to ask. Does Leao even want to leave? He has said nothing publicly since the talks started. His future is being worked out in meeting rooms, between an agent hunting for a route out and a club with no reason to open the door.
Deadline day will answer it one way or another.
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