Radrizzani personally involved as Leeds make approach to sign £23k-a-wk striker – Sky journalist
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani is personally involved in the club’s bid to sign Rafael Leao from AC Milan this summer, according to Gianluca Di Marzio.
The Sky Sports Italy journalist wrote on his personal website that Leeds want to sign two new attackers before the transfer window closes and Radrizzani has “taken concrete steps” to discuss a potential deal for Portuguese striker Leao.
It is understood that Radrizzani wants to know the likelihood of signing the 21-year-old forward, who joined Milan from Lille last summer.
However, Di Marzio adds that the Serie A giants would rather keep hold of Leao after he scored six goals in 31 league appearances for them last season.
Di Marzio has been rolling out the Leeds stories lately and that is no surprise given that he was spotted on Instagram meeting with Radrizzani earlier this week when Leeds’ new Adidas home kit was revealed.
What is also interesting about this update is that Sky Sports’ Tim Thorton recently reported that Radrizzani and Victor Orta have been jetting out across Europe to hold talks about signing new players.
It seems that one of Radrizzani’s flights took him to his hometown of Milan, where he discussed a possible deal for Leao.
Leao is a very promising young striker, who AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli has tipped to have a big future.
“Rafael Leao is improving a great deal, he has this incredible potential and can do so much more. I have a lot of options upfront, but I think Milan will only get to see the real Leao next season, once he’s had more time to adapt to Italian football,” said Pioli, as quoted by Football Italia in July.
While Leao has a lot of potential, we just don’t see how signing him is doable for Leeds.
Financially, Leao is earning £23,000-a-week (£1.2million-a-year) on his deal at the San Siro [Calcio Mercato] – a figure Leeds should be able to match. But the forward cost the Italian giants £32million when they signed him from Lille last year and they’re bound to want more than that now.
Plus, AC Milan’s stance seems pretty clear based on what Di Marzio and Pioli have said about him and would the Portugal Under-21 international really be interesting in coming to Elland Road to potentially play second-fiddle to Patrick Bamford? We doubt it.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have tabled an offer for this Dutch attacker.