Chelsea’s efforts to sign AC Milan superstar Rafael Leao are set to fail, with the player ready to sign a new five-year deal with the UEFA Champions League semi-finalists.
Who are Chelsea linked with?
It seems pretty obvious that Todd Boehly will splash out for a new goalscorer this summer, with Frank Lampard’s current squad at Stamford Bridge repeteadly failing to take their chances over the last few months.
The Blues have scored just 30 top flight goals from 43.48 expected goals this season, which is the biggest dispairity between those numbers of any club in the division. Unsurprisingly, they are linked with superstar strikers as a result, namely Napoli’s league-winner Victor Osimhen.
The Nigeria international will need support from the attacking players around him if he does sign though, and perhaps that is where Leao was supposed to come in. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, via Sport Witness, Chelsea have been chasing the forward since Boehly arrived last summer.
However, the £28,000 per-week speedster is now ready to snub interest from west London in favour of signing a new deal in Milan, and is just waiting on his club to finalise an agreement with former club Sporting, who are due compensation as a result of the manner in which he left their academy in 2018.
Is this a blow for Boehly?
If it’s true that the Blues chief has been chasing Leao since last summer then this is certainly a big hit, and perhaps even more of a hit for likely new manager Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentine, presuming he signs on the dotted line, will surely want some new players of his own desipte the club’s massive spending over the last 12 months, and Leao, with 13 goals and 13 assists this season, could have been the perfect marquee addition.
Labelled the new Ronaldo Nazário by former coach Tiago Fernandes for his lighnting quick feet and lethal finishing, the winger could have been everything Boehly hoped Mykhailo Mudryk would become.
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