Rafael Leao
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I remember this as well
Only to turn out as one of our most industrious forwards in years
There have been some wild exaggerations in this thread (the caf wouldn’t have it any other way I guess!). You would think he was completely useless reading this. You would also think Rashford was completely useless tbh. Neither of those things are true. Our team has had plenty of benefit from Rashford playing well over the years for a start.
We have to be realistic about where we are, and the market we are operating in. Leao may have fallen off the trajectory he was on over the last couple of years. But importantly, that is not due to his rupturing his achilles or anything. No major injuries. So at 26/27 - in a favourable financial deal - we could do a LOT worse.
Leao as he is now, forget the fulfilment of whatever potential we think he may or may not realise, probably still gets 8-10 league goals and a similar number of assists for us. Not too dissimilar to what our much heralded bunch have done in terms of goals, and he’s definitely more creative than them so will likely outperform on assists. People are taking their pessimism as to whether or both the feel Leao can reach whatever potential they assigned to him of 20+ league goals as to why he’s not at the level. Rashford got 14 goals and 14 assists for Barca. He’s been useful. Not the 100m Rashford people would have hoped for years ago, but even now, the shortcomings are largely against the context of what was expected of him previously. Anthony Gordon would do very well to better Rashford’s numbers, for example. If Gordon got 14 goals, he’d likely be considered a success because nobody ever thought he’d get 25. This is part of what Leao is suffering from.
At least with Leao - he just might put up spectacular numbers too. He has the talent to. Worst case, his numbers are unlikely to be worse than someone like Doku, who has been praised to the heavens. He will outscore the nonsense Saka has been putting up last two years.
We have to be realistic about where we are, and the market we are operating in. Leao may have fallen off the trajectory he was on over the last couple of years. But importantly, that is not due to his rupturing his achilles or anything. No major injuries. So at 26/27 - in a favourable financial deal - we could do a LOT worse.
Leao as he is now, forget the fulfilment of whatever potential we think he may or may not realise, probably still gets 8-10 league goals and a similar number of assists for us. Not too dissimilar to what our much heralded bunch have done in terms of goals, and he’s definitely more creative than them so will likely outperform on assists. People are taking their pessimism as to whether or both the feel Leao can reach whatever potential they assigned to him of 20+ league goals as to why he’s not at the level. Rashford got 14 goals and 14 assists for Barca. He’s been useful. Not the 100m Rashford people would have hoped for years ago, but even now, the shortcomings are largely against the context of what was expected of him previously. Anthony Gordon would do very well to better Rashford’s numbers, for example. If Gordon got 14 goals, he’d likely be considered a success because nobody ever thought he’d get 25. This is part of what Leao is suffering from.
At least with Leao - he just might put up spectacular numbers too. He has the talent to. Worst case, his numbers are unlikely to be worse than someone like Doku, who has been praised to the heavens. He will outscore the nonsense Saka has been putting up last two years.
Worth a punt on the right term I reckon
Don’t particularly ate him but I strongly disagree with those saying we are good in attack. We need another attacker.
I agree with the general consensus that utd unlikely to sign Leao permanently this summer.
I wonder if a loan deal might be doable? Try before you buy with a option to buy. Derisks the deal considerably. He's a very talented player who could make a big impact if motivated and happy.
Gives us that natural left sided wide man and he can also play up front.
His salary is reported around 8m pounds. Along with a loan fee I'd guess that would be around 10-12m cost to utd for a year for his services.
Compared to let's say signing mateta for 30m and 6 or 7m salary for 3 years. That's around a 15m yearly cost with little resale value at the end.
Obviously getting milan to agree to that would be the tricky bit but seems he's agitating for a move and if barca can do it with rashford, maybe we could do similar here.
I wonder if a loan deal might be doable? Try before you buy with a option to buy. Derisks the deal considerably. He's a very talented player who could make a big impact if motivated and happy.
Gives us that natural left sided wide man and he can also play up front.
His salary is reported around 8m pounds. Along with a loan fee I'd guess that would be around 10-12m cost to utd for a year for his services.
Compared to let's say signing mateta for 30m and 6 or 7m salary for 3 years. That's around a 15m yearly cost with little resale value at the end.
Obviously getting milan to agree to that would be the tricky bit but seems he's agitating for a move and if barca can do it with rashford, maybe we could do similar here.
60m is too expensive, there's a lot of value in this market and this is not it
A loan would be nice
A loan would be nice
Looks a very Chelsea signing.
Looks like a Tottenham signing though. They'll throw £85m at him and expect him to be the Leao from 3 years ago.
If the fee was good I’d be open to it.
3 years ago when he was the prince of Milan? Yes. Now? I wouldn’t. I’d rather we take a chance on someone younger.
Sucking yourself off
I wonder would it be more palatable if he was seen as a replacement for Zirkzee. At least Leao would bring pace which would open up a new level of attack when a game requires it. If we shipped Zirkzee out and brought this guy in on loan to see how he works out then it’d be worth a risk. If he’s a lazy bugger and doesn’t change for the PL then we let him return from loan
No thanks, we can do better than this.
He is a player who can play across the front, so fans can frame it that way if it makes them feel better. The reality is, none of our forwards are what I would call superstars, and if Leao joined - he’d have just as much chance as any of the others of being our #1 attacker.
The key is the financials I would say. But we would struggle to do any better on the market than Leao at say, £40m or so. That figure simply doesn’t get you a better player than him.
Yeah, it's the financials that decide this deal, or color the online fans opinion. If INEOS can get a good deal or even palatable loan, most fans would probably be ok with it. It would be a decent punt to replace a Rashford-shaped hole among our options.
I definitely don't want to commit more than 40mil for the fee, unless that is a loan plus option to buy (which assumes he did well enough to pick up the option).
I do see Spurs trying to get a deal that blows us out of the water, which I am ok with as I really don't want to get in a bidding war for him. He's an opportunity, not a priority.
There were a few reports that Milan were willing to sell at £€43mil a few weeks back. They may have been posted in the left winger thread though.
Rather City got charged for 115 charges, relegated and we bought Semenyo instead.
Could be a great player for us, maybe.
I'd take Bowen above Leao, but if we could get a loan deal with an option, that would be decent business.
Loan with an option is basically what Italian clubs offer us all the time. I like the thought.
No clue about the player. Seems a bit untidy from brief impressions on Youtube. Can this guy dribble in tight spaces, or does he need loads of space to run in behind and such? I think we need someone to do the former, as we already have enough players who mainly thrive in space.
We should do these type of deals from time to time.
I imagine he’s on decent wages, for Milan, so why not. Don’t think he’s the right player at all, it we do need numbers, and with a no risk loan, he has the opportunity to prove whether he should get a transfer.
I would take him for below 50m euros, I believe he can adapt to the rigor of the PL due to his physical profile, we need at least 1 inverting LW that can also stretch the game, Leao does that.
Interesting post. There's merit and rationale to your comments and I appreciate the sense of realism that we need to accept when signing players. And for goals, yes, Rashford, Leao and Gordon will all probably post similar numbers.
However, you do not raise or reference the players attitude, their contributions when they are not scoring. Rashford and Leao have shown their limitations in contributing to the team. Raphina and Gordon are good comparisons, both work tremendously hard, every game, regardless of their form, or goals scored.
Rashford, currently has delusions of ego... have you seen him recently, covered in tattoos, the man seems lost in statements and activism. He needs to understand that he has nothing to prove.
If we are paying his wages, then he should train and make himself available for selection. If he does not, that's a breach of contract and he should not get paid.
Marcus Rashford's best place is to be at Old Trafford.
But he has to want that. And it seems he does not.
Leao, in my opinion will bring too much distraction and hype. No thanks.
Don’t see the relevance. Cunha was younger than Leao and performing at a way higher level, in a much better league, in a crap team. Look what happened to Wolves when he left, he was there attacking everything, he was allowed to not close down and chase back. Leao has never shown the willingness to press or work for the team. Lads just one of those enigma players, all the talent in the world, but just never going to apply himself constantly.
Incredibly frustrating player from what I've seen. Gets you off the edge of your seat and then pulling your hair out within a minute in the same way someone like an Adama Traore did back in the day.
I just don’t see it with him. He’s essentially a worse Rashford (current version) and I’d rather us go get some buzzing young take on demon for that LW spot.
It’s not like we are going to get some bargain deal either where it’s worth the punt, and I don’t know why Milan would agree to a loan.
It’s not like we are going to get some bargain deal either where it’s worth the punt, and I don’t know why Milan would agree to a loan.
I would agree rather a young talent to complement the squad with versatility, but Leao I think is more talented than Rashford personally.....but often even more frustrating
My Milan supporting mate is delighted to see the back of him
I'm not saying we should be signing Leao by any means, but pretty much every club's fans , especially those like Milan who perceive themselves as a big club, would say they are glad to be rid of a player who makes it clear he longer wants to be there.
Just look at our fans with Rashford for example. It doesn't necessarily speak to the quality of the player, just the way fans are.
Decidedly sideways move from Rashford but the squad is definitely light in attacking positions. If we want to go far in all the competitions next season we will need a really solid versatile bench player who can hit ground running. Rashford would be more than fine for that role if he was happy to be here and willing to step it up off the ball coming off the bench. He's burned his bridges though and letting him back would set a bad precedent for the other players.
For the right money and the player coming here to prove a point instead of solely for the money this may be a very shrewd deal.
There's been no real solid links? Paper talk. This the kind of deal Woodward would have done 100%
For the right money and the player coming here to prove a point instead of solely for the money this may be a very shrewd deal.
There's been no real solid links? Paper talk. This the kind of deal Woodward would have done 100%
A loan would be a fantastic move. If he can cut it, we buy him, if he's shit, he's Milans problem again. Maybe send Rashford the other way.
I’d be all over this for Sub 50m. The stuff that Leao’s got (barring injuries) you don’t lose. Not at 27.
Obviously a bit of a gamble, but I could definitely see him getting bums off seats at Old Trafford. He could very well be our Dembele if we can get the best out of him.
And I’d hope we get a deal in place prior to the world cup because he’s the kind of player whose price might rocket if he stars for Portugal.
Obviously a bit of a gamble, but I could definitely see him getting bums off seats at Old Trafford. He could very well be our Dembele if we can get the best out of him.
And I’d hope we get a deal in place prior to the world cup because he’s the kind of player whose price might rocket if he stars for Portugal.
He could also be Traore as he could be a Dembele. It really is gambling millions. A loan would be preferable
I take the point that it’s gambling millions but so is any transfer. But assuming you’re talking about Adama Traore he’s simply a kick and rush merchant who has never had anything close to the skill that Leao has.
Anyway I take the point that a loan would be preferable but since the potential upside is so high I’d happily risk the equivalent of the amount we spent on Ugarte or half of what Barca are spending on Gordon, on him.
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That's a bit unfair on Adama Traore. He actually has brilliant close control and is a very skilful dribbler, which is why he's just as effective at maintaining possession in close quarters against multiple players as he is in open space. The issue is that he's absolutely terrible at whatever he does at the end of the dribbling, both in terms of choosing the wrong option and the quality with which he does it.
At least, that was all true a few years ago. I basically haven't watched him in the last three or four years so maybe he has become more of a kick and rush player now.
No, just no. Amazing with the ball on his feet, infuriating in offball actions. He's clearly not a good fit for the Premier League.