Roberto Donadoni has questioned the amount of attention around Rafael Leao's role at Milan, arguing that the very fact the forward's fit is being debated is a problem in itself.
Leao announced his intention to leave earlier this summer, and Milan have been working since to find him a new club. Galatasaray hold a concrete interest, but the wider market has stayed quiet, and no suitor has met Milan's valuation.
Speaking to MilanNews, the former Milan winger turned his focus to what he sees as the No.10's central issue. "He's a player who certainly has above-average skills, but consistency is another key component, and he's lacking in that," Donadoni said. "I hope that everything happening will make him realise this, and that he becomes the champion that we occasionally see doing extraordinary things."
He suggested the dressing room might need to push Leao harder. "If I were Leao's teammate, I would have grabbed him by the braids sometimes to make him understand that it's good for him to do something different too," he said, while stressing that judging any player from the outside has its limits.
On whether Leao suits Amorim's 3-4-2-1 or whether Milan should look elsewhere, Donadoni framed the question as the answer. "If there's someone better than you in a specific position, then you will struggle to play," he said. "If we have to sit here discussing tactical formations to try to make better use of Leao, we have already lost." He pointed back to his own playing days, when he adapted across the right, centre and left rather than specialising, and found more opportunities because of it.
Asked about the summer friendlies under Amorim, Donadoni kept his expectations grounded. "These friendlies are important; they help you get into shape," he said. "But you're in the thick of things, so the result has a relatively low significance. You just have to be ready for the start of the season." On Amorim himself, he offered a short endorsement: since the club chose to appoint him, backing him is the only sensible position.
The Goncalo Ramos fee drew a more pointed reflection, and Donadoni tied it directly back to Leao. "If we evaluate things solely in financial terms, then the same applies to Leao. It looked like Leao was going to leave, but in the end, no one offered what Milan wanted." For him, the numbers are secondary. "It's also clear that when you hear these figures being discussed, it's quite surprising. Getting good, quality players isn't easy, and I think those prices are being paid."
Donadoni's point cuts to the heart of the saga: as long as no club matches Milan's asking price, the debate over Leao's role and future stays open, and it is the market, not the tactics board, that will settle it.