La Liga heavyweights Real Madrid are reportedly closing in on signing 22-year-old Portuguese international Rafael Leao from AC Milan.
According to a report by Spanish publication SPORT, Rafael Leao and Aurelien Tchouameni are Florentino Perez’s chief targets heading into the summer transfer window. And the two young stars are inching closer to moving to Real Madrid ahead of the 2022/23 season.
Rafael Leao has transformed into a world-class wide attacker since joining AC Milan from Lille in August 2019. While he was not consistent, to begin with, the 22-year-old has come leaps and bounds in the last two seasons, establishing himself as the talisman for the Rossoneri.
The Portuguese international was particularly delightful in the 2021/22 season, amassing 11 goals and ten assists in 34 Serie A outings while winning the MVP award after guiding Milan to the title. And Leao’s exploits have not gone unnoticed, with some of the most high profile clubs in Europe, including Real Madrid, setting their sights on him.
The interest from Real Madrid stems from their inability to secure the services of Kylian Mbappe in a Bosman move. Los Blancos chased the French international for a year before he snubbed them to stay put at Paris Saint-Germain, in what came across as a shocking decision.
But the Spanish giants are not licking their wounds and instead focusing on pursuing alternatives to bolster their squad before their pre-season campaign begins. Leao has thus emerged as a viable target for Real Madrid, who will have no qualms about shelling out the big bucks to land him in the summer transfer window.
While Leao has excelled as a left-winger at AC Milan, he is just as unpredictable and dynamic on the opposite flank. The Portuguese international’s qualities should help Carlo Ancelotti create a fluid attacking unit at Real Madrid next season. And the Merengues are closing in on landing the Portuguese international in the summer transfer window.
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According to SPORT, Aurelien Tchouameni and Leao are the priority targets for Real Madrid, with both players inching closer to moving to the Santiago Bernabeu. It will be interesting to see if Real Madrid can quickly seal the deal to land Tchouameni or if AC Milan can manage to keep hold of him following Paolo Maldini’s recent comments.
