Rafa has been in Costa Smeralda recently, on vacation and preparing for the season. Mentality, motivation, and only one game a week: these are the reasons why it could work between him and his new coach.
In the summer, Rafa Leao wore a T-shirt with the slogan: “Life hasn’t become easier, we’ve become stronger.” Rafa will be at Milanello tomorrow evening and on Monday morning he will begin his new life with Max Allegri. For the first time, he is starting the season with a coach with an impressive resume: Pioli, when he met Rafa, had not yet won, and Fonseca was an outsider. The good news for Milan is that Leao is preparing himself. “We have become stronger.” And how do you become stronger if not through hard work?
Leao, Marcolin, and Udogie— Leao has been training in Sardinia, on the Costa Smeralda, to get ready for the team’s return. Dario Marcolin has been helping him, and other players have also been spotted in the area, from Destiny Udogie to Andrea Petagna. Fun fact: Marcolin was Allegri’s teammate more than thirty years ago at Cagliari. Rafa has been alternating fun and training all summer. Photos of his training sessions in Portugal and Brazil, the previous stages of his vacation, have appeared on social media. Rafa in particular seems to have discovered a special bond with Rio and Brazil, with phrases such as “Brazil has my heart,” dedicated jerseys, and photos in which he has mixed the red and black of Milan with that of Flamengo.
Allegri and Leao: the numbers— The challenge now is to grow and prove to himself that he really is stronger. Leao finished last season with eight goals and ten assists, in 2023-24 with nine goals and ten assists, in 2022-23 with 15 goals and ten assists, and in the Scudetto-winning year with 11 goals and ten assists. An impressive consistency, with a peak in the post-Scudetto period, obvious flaws, and the great, overwhelming collective feeling that we are in the presence of a player with enormous room for improvement. Allegri is the next to try to turn theory into reality. Max has nurtured many potential champions and managed many inconsistent talents with his methods. A little paternal, a little tough, between strategic substitutions and basketball challenges in training camp. He did very well with Pogba and Dybala, well with Kean and Soulé, and decidedly less so with Vlahovic.
Rafa’s future— Leao is different from them because he may be naive as a young man, but he is a mature player in every way, he is Milan’s number 10, their most representative player, and the father of two children. No one can predict what will happen to him in the next 12 months—another season with 10 goals and 10 assists? A career turning point? An offer from Bayern that takes him away?—but the new era could do him good. New teammates, a different balance in the dressing room, and only one game a week, as in the spring of 2022 when he led Milan to the Scudetto. And the start is encouraging. On one of his first days at Lille, Rafa confused “matin” (morning) with “après-midi” (afternoon) and showed up late for training. This time, he will be at the training ground from the evening before and has kept up with his work during his vacation. Not a bad idea.
