Ruben Amorim has played down speculation over Rafael Leão’s future, saying he sees no sign of a player with one foot out of the door. Speaking before Wednesday’s friendly against Inter in Perth, the Milan coach called the Portuguese “happy and motivated”, his comments relayed by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Leão’s name has drifted through the mercato this summer, and any question about a possible sale carries weight for a squad Amorim is still shaping around his 3-4-3. The derby down under, following Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Celtic in Glasgow, gives him another look at how the group is absorbing those ideas.
“All the players are working really well: both those who started from day one and those who arrived later,” Amorim said of Leão. “Rafa is lucky to be at a club like Milan, so he should be happy. I feel he’s happy and motivated.” He added that he had not seen “any difference in Leão compared to the other players”, while admitting he could not predict what happens before the window shuts.
Much of the press conference was given over to Franco Baresi, whose funeral is being held today. Amorim, in the job only weeks, said he was “the last person who should talk about Baresi” but wanted to explain what the club legend means inside the building.
“No one calls Baresi ‘Baresi’: he is Franco and that means something,” he said. “When you talk about him with the whole communication staff, they have tears in their eyes.” He recounted the one story that keeps coming back to him: “Everyone says one thing: ‘When we went to Serie B, he didn’t leave us’. And that’s special.”
Amorim explained why the squad remains in Australia rather than attending the funeral. “If you could ask Franco today if we should have interrupted our preparations to go to his funeral, I think I can guarantee that he would have preferred us to continue doing our job, defending the club.”
On Luka Modrić, Amorim confirmed the veteran will feature against Inter and framed his role plainly. “He’ll have to fight for his place, but of course, he’s a special player. We’ve done a lot to have him with us for at least another season.” With two games close together and little training time, Amorim said everyone will play part of the derby to manage workloads.
Asked about the mercato, Amorim leaned on the group he already has. “I’m really happy with the team I have,” he said, acknowledging Milan “also have a transfer market idea” that may or may not come off. His message was that this squad, as it stands, can be competitive.
He also made clear where the preseason sits in his thinking. “Being the preseason champion isn’t important,” he said, pointing to the real start of the campaign against Cremonese at San Siro on 23 August. Winning in Perth matters to him, but not at the cost of how the team plays.
For now, Amorim’s public line on Leão is that nothing has changed, and with the window still open, it is the mercato desk, not the dressing room, that will decide whether that holds.