With Chelsea still looking for an attacking reinforcement, Rafael Leao is the latest name to be linked with a move to Stamford Bridge.
We’ve seen it grow over the past few days, with reports in Italy claiming that €150m would be needed to convince Milan to let him go.
That is the fee of his release clause, at least the one he had in his contract until July, as Gazzetta dello Sport pick up on the story on Wednesday.
They explain that a number of fees would need to be paid to various parties should a big transfer take place, as Leao owes €16.5m to Sporting CP, while Milan would owe 15% of any future transfer to Lille.
Milan ‘absolutely hope to keep Leao and could only capitulate if faced with an XXL offer, almost unreal, and certainly in the triple figures’, meaning Chelsea ‘would have to invest more or less €150m’ to get their man.
While that sounds quite far fetched at this moment in time, it’s worth pointing out that the Portuguese is represented, at least partly, by Jorge Mendes.
Gazzetta explain the player has signed ‘two powers of attorney’: one with the aforementioned super agent and ‘the other with a French lawyer who is very close to Rafa’s father’.
Mendes, down his end, ‘has every interest in exploring the market and looking for a solution over €100m’.
That’s why he has ‘certainly spoken with Chelsea and Rafa Leao, assuring Milan that an offer will come’, and as shown by last year’s Cristiano Ronaldo drama, ‘he is not afraid to build a heavy transfer in the last week of the transfer window’.
It’s worth pointing out that the player isn’t actively looking for a transfer, and would be happy to renew at Milan should no transfer take place, but Gazzetta do explain that ‘it will not be easy to do so with two agents involved’.
That isn’t Chelsea’s problem, though, who have money to spend and need themselves a new goalscorer.
