Rafael Leão is not closer to leaving Milan despite talks over a switch to Turkey, and the conditions the club have set have brought negotiations to a standstill.
The backdrop to the deadlock is a relationship that has soured between Leão and Gerry Cardinale, and it now shapes how Milan are handling any sale. What began as interest from two Istanbul clubs has become a test of who blinks first.
According to Tuttosport, a stalemate has developed over the potential move, with both Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray keen. The problem is the formula. Milan will not entertain a loan with an option to buy, and a loan with an obligation to buy is off the table for now. Both Turkish clubs would prefer a loan, and that gap has frozen the talks over the past week.
Leão is watching from Australia, where he has started personalised training to regain condition alongside compatriot Gonçalo Ramos.
The mood between player and president is fraught. According to Tuttosport, Cardinale did not appreciate Leão's comments, which effectively put him on the market, while Leão took issue with what the owner said at a roundtable with journalists on 25 May. During that discussion, Cardinale let slip that he would have sold Leão last year for €100m, adding remarks about the player's character. That friction is part of why the ownership has adopted such an uncompromising line.
The financial context explains why the Turkish clubs are circling in the first place. Sides in Turkey tend to offer players more money than the buying clubs themselves put up, helped by the tax breaks written into Turkish law, which lets them tempt targets on wages while pushing for cheaper transfer structures.
For now, every scenario is still live and shifts by the day, with Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray waiting to see whether Milan soften. The slim possibility that Leão stays carries what Tuttosport calls potentially explosive implications. The sense is that something could move before the window shuts, though it will take work and a good deal of pragmatism from Milan on the financial side.
From here, it is Milan's call on whether to bend on the formula, and until they do, the two Istanbul clubs simply wait.