Rafael Leão negotiates his Milan exit after seven seasons

Rafael Leão trained with the rest of the squad this week, but on Friday he did not even travel with the team for the match against Venezia. That detail, small as it may seem, tells almost the entire story: Milan has already closed the book on a cycle that began seven seasons ago.

Ruben Amorim, the rossoneri manager, made that pretty clear in Thursday's press conference. There was no beating around the bush.

Leão is an excellent player and, with the right mentality, he can play for any team in the world. However, you need the right mentality, and sometimes in football there comes a moment when it's better to move on. That's the situation we find ourselves in today.Ruben Amorim

In other words: the door is open, and nobody at the club is going to stand in the way if the Portuguese decides to leave. In fact, Leão is already on Milan's list of transfer-listed players, something the club's own management hasn't bothered to hide.

The 27 year old forward had already signaled before the 2026 World Cup break that he felt he needed a fresh start. He told Sport TV as much, in a line that sums up his mindset well: "I've given everything at Milan." He added something that sounds sincere rather than a forced goodbye: "It's a club that helped me grow a lot and supported me in difficult moments."

Galatasaray pushes, but his heart points to Birmingham

According to The Athletic, Milan has already accepted an offer from Galatasaray worth 45 million euros. The Turkish club is also putting a hefty contract on the table: roughly 12 million euros a year, no small sum for any player at the peak of his career.

The problem is that Leão's heart seems to be pulling in a different direction. The same outlet reports that the player would prefer to land at Aston Villa, who are pushing for a loan deal with a mandatory purchase option set for next summer. Milan, understandably, is less keen on that route: the club would rather settle everything now with an outright transfer and avoid being tied to future deadlines or conditions.

That's the crux of the negotiation: a Turkish club that pays well and already has an agreement with Milan, and an English destination the player prefers but where the structure of the deal is still being worked out. Leão, against the logic of immediate financial interest, has yet to make up his mind.

It's worth remembering where all this started. Leão joined Milan from Lille in 2019 and has since played 291 matches, scoring 80 goals and providing 61 assists. Along the way he won the Serie A title in the 2021-22 season, one of the high points of his time at San Siro.

He is under contract until June 2028, which gives Milan some leverage in negotiations, though Amorim's message suggests the club has no intention of forcing an uncomfortable stay. The team, in fact, has already won without him: Milan beat Torino 2-1 on August 23 in their first league match of the season, the very game Leão missed before rejoining training.