Peppe Di Stefano, a Sky Sport journalist, spoke to MilanVibes about Rafael Leão:
"Rafa doesn’t have a sixth gear. I would always put him in my team. For me, he’s one of the strongest players in Italy right now. He may not have the consistency we’d like, but that’s just how it is. Compared to a few years ago, Milan plays much less in attack than before. Pioli’s Milan created a lot and played very offensively. I remember an interview with Pioli when he said: ‘I wanted to win matches 1–0, but this team needs to score one more goal than the opponent.’ With Allegri, it doesn’t work like that. He said it on July 7: ‘First of all, we need to shut the door.’ And indeed, defensively Milan isn’t conceding the goals it did last year. Clearly, if you pull the blanket to one side, it gets shorter on the other. The ball stays much more in the back now. If before Pulisic and Leão had ten chances to dribble, now they have far fewer. And of course, that inflammation also has an impact, because if you overdo it, you could be out for two or three months. Evaluations need to be made with the future in mind. What helps Leão is playing every seven or eight days."
Peppe Stefano added:
"Milan renewing Maignan’s contract is the right move for a club with big ambitions. All’s well that ends well. Finding another goalkeeper would have required time and resources, and Maignan is a leader here. In my opinion, he’s even better this year than in the Scudetto-winning season.”
