Manchester United have been told AC Milan winger Rafael Leao has the potential to win the Ballon d’Or, but the Old Trafford side have equally been sent a warning about the Portugal international star.
Leao is one of a number of wide players that the Red Devils have been linked with ahead of the summer transfer window.
Chelsea once offered €80 million for the former Lille star, while Arsenal have considered a summer swoop for the 26-year-old, but it is United who are most closely linked with him as the end of the season approaches.
‘Rafael Leao can never be the main man’
According to former Blues star Marcel Desailly, it would be wrong to write Leao off, but any club that signs him will have to accept a frustrating level of consistency as well as a significant defensive deficiency.
“You can’t criticise him, because the day you criticise him, he will produce magic on the pitch. And you are stuck and you don’t know what to say anymore. In five seconds, he will crash out all the negativity you put on him,” Desailly told the Italian Football Podcast.
“But we know 100% that he doesn’t have the consistency. And he isn’t on his own a leader for a full season like Messi was, and Neymar was.
“He doesn’t have that consistency. He is an important player for the team, but he can never be the main man throughout the season. He can be the main man once in a while. Because he will be on and off.”
Ballon d’Or potential but still ‘a problem’
Despite being a player who has the capacity to be the best in the world, Desailly still sees him as “a problem”.
The 1998 World Cup winner explained: “He is a bit of a problem in a system because he doesn’t track back. He’ll push forward but when the action is finished, he just stops.
“It means he doesn’t have the legs to get back into position. So, there must be a physical and mental approach that eventually could bring him to the level of because he could be Ballon d’Or.
“But does he really want it? Are his entourage smart enough to be able to tell him: ‘Look what you’ve done is great but to get to the next level, you will need to adjust certain things.’
“Because for now this is the maximum we can expect from Leao.”
A player in ‘significant decline’
Desailly’s analysis on Rafael Leao is largely backed by data analytics firm SciSports.
Its statistic-driven analysis shows that over the last six months, the overall level of Leao has been in a state of “significant decline”. Perhaps most worrying for the €70.7 million-rated attacker, this has been the case for a prolonged period.
Despite this, Leao has still put up some impressive numbers in Serie A this season, with nine goals in 24 appearances. Only two of these have come in his last 12 games, however.
Work clearly has to be done in order to rebuild Leao’s reputation, and Desailly’s belief is that a change of attitude from the player will be central to doing this.
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