At 25 years of age, Rafael Leão has already delivered a mightily impressive career. He's played in a European Championship and a World Cup with Portugal, he's been named the Serie A MVP after guiding Milan to their first Scudetto in a decade, and he's scored the fastest goal in Serie A history, finished as the top assist provider in the 2023/24 Serie A campaign, and been named in the Serie A Team of the Year in each of the last three years.
Leao's start before Milan

Born in Almada, Portugal to an Angolan father and a São Toméan mother who met in mainland Portugal, Leão was raised in the Lisbon suburb of Amora and ended up joining Sporting CP's academy at nine years of age, where he quickly impressed at the Alcochete set-up.
“I played many years with Leão, and even at that time, he was far superior to the other players," stated Casa Pia winger and Sporting academy graduate Nuno Moreira in an RG interview. "He did different things.I had no doubts that he was going to reach the level he’s at now, and I think he can become even better than he is now.”
After a decade at Sporting, Leão unilaterally terminated his contract on June 14, 2018 after a mob of 50 Sporting ultras invaded their training facility and attacked players and staff. He joined Lille on a free transfer and penned a five-year deal at the French club, where he excelled in attack alongside Nicolas Pépé, Jonathan Bamba and Jonathan Ikoné and scored 8 goals in 26 appearances. One year after narrowly surviving relegation, Lille finished second in the Ligue 1 standings.
MILANO È ROSSONERA ❤️🖤 pic.twitter.com/KuhvVgWcn9
— Rafael Leão (@RafaeLeao7) January 6, 2025
On his move to Milan
It was enough to see the Rossoneri sign him from Lille for an initial €35 million, although it ended up costing them a lot more. After Sporting won their lawsuit in 2023 against Leão for his decision to rescind his contract and leave for free, Lille were forced to pay the Portuguese giants €20m in full.
However, this was indirectly paid by Milan: when they signed him in 2019, Milan agreed to give Lille a release cause between 15-20%, according to Radio Rossonera. Milan agreed to pay the €20m fee in exchange for removing the resale clause, increasing his cost on the balance sheet.
Thanks to their willingness to foot the bill and settle the matter once and for all, Leão was more than eager to agree a new contract at Milan through 2028, with a base salary of €5 million and a release clause of €175 million. Milan, meanwhile, were more than happy to tie down a player into his prime years, who had already emerged as an attacking talisman for them.
After picking up 9 and 13 goal contributions in his first two seasons in Italy, Leão racked up a whopping 14 goals and 12 assists in 42 appearances to lead Milan to a long-awaited championship in 2021/22. He's followed that up with double digits in both categories in each of the last two seasons, and today, he looks set to extend that streak with 6 goals and 7 assists in 24 appearances.
Rafael Leao has completed more dribbles (37) than any other player in Serie A this season. 🌪️ pic.twitter.com/8oDhibYZLQ
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 29, 2024
The 25-year-old winger has gone through a difficult period this season under new manager Paulo Fonseca and was even dropped to the bench on several occasions. He kicked off 2025 under a different Portuguese coach -- Sérgio Conceição -- by coming off the bench in their comeback win vs. Juventus, booking their ticket for the Supercoppa Italiana Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Leão began the match with the substitutes, with Spanish teenager Álex Jiménez being preferred for a second straight match. When he replaced his fellow Iberian teammate in the 50th minute, Inter had just stretched their lead to two after Mehdi Taremi's goal following the break. Tijjani Reijnders pulled one back via an exquisite free kick, and Leão nearly instigated the equalizer after leaving Yan Aurel Bisseck in his dust before teeing up Reijnders with a cross, whose shot found the head of Alessandro Bastoni.
Not to be denied, Milan leveled proceedings in the 80th minute via Christian Pulisic, whilst they sealed the comeback win in the third minute of injury time, with Pulisic fashioning an expertly timed through ball to Leão, who teed up fellow substitute Tammy Abraham and enabled him to convert in front of an empty net.
Rafael #Leao: "We need to focus on ourselves and keep working..." ⚽️🗣️https://t.co/foFOPVns8g
— MilanReports (@MilanReportscom) January 11, 2025
Milan celebrated their first piece of silverware since the 2021/22 Scudetto, with Conceição surpassing Fonseca's entire trophy count in merely two games and kicking off his coaching chapter in Italian football on the right foot. The ex Porto technician could not help but heap praise on Leão, stating:
"Leao is phenomenal. I’ve known him for a long time...he needs to learn a few things and then I believe he can become the best player in the world. I’ve told him this too, he has so much individual quality and if he puts it to the service of the team, he can be even better. I have no doubts, he can become the best in the world next season if he learns those things.”
What's next for Leao and Milan?
Leão returned to the eleven in the following match but was unable to get them a much-needed victory, with Cagliari holding them to a 1-1 draw. The Rossoneri currently sit eighth in the table and are at risk of missing out on European football, and they'll be counting on Leão as they look to turn around their underwhelming league form and beat Como on Tuesday ahead of a busy week that will see them face Juventus in Serie A and Girona in the UEFA Champions League.
By: Zach Lowy / @ZachLowy
