Alessandro Costacurta has never been one to sugar coat his verdicts, and his latest assessment of Rafael Leao lands with the weight of a long serving...
Alessandro Costacurta has never been one to sugar coat his verdicts, and his latest assessment of Rafael Leao lands with the weight of a long serving centre half's tackle. The legendary Milan defender has essentially told the San Siro faithful to stop treating the Portuguese forward as some kind of beacon of leadership. His point is blunt, yet it cuts to the bone of a deeper truth about this current Rossoneri side.Costacurta's argument is not an attack on Leao's talent. Let's be clear on that. The man can glide past defenders with a languid ease that few in Europe can match. But there is a gulf between being a match winner and being a leader. Leao's body language on the pitch often suggests a player operating on his own frequency, one that rarely syncs with the demands of dragging a team through the mud during a dire midweek encounter in Bergamo. The former defender's point is that the fuss around Leao's potential departure is being overblown because the club is not losing a Kaka or a Shevchenko. They are losing a supremely gifted individual, not a general. And there is a world of difference between those two things.Think about it. When Kaka left, Milan lost not just a Ballon d'Or winner but the heartbeat of their transitional play, a player who could take a game by the scruff of the neck when the low block was suffocating the life out of the attack. Shevchenko was clinical finishing personified, a predator whose movement dictated the defensive line of the opposition. Leao, for all his brilliance in one versus one situations, has never consistently delivered that level of influence over a full ninety minutes. He drifts in and out of games. He can be brilliant for twenty minutes and anonymous for seventy. That is not the profile of a player you build a dynasty around, no matter how much his agent whispers about a new contract.There is an emotional fragility to this Milan side that Costacurta has spotted from a mile off. They lack the snarling, veteran presence in the dressing room that made the old guard so formidable. Leao is the star, but he is not the man to rally the troops when the wheels wobble in a Champions League knockout tie. The worry for the club's hierarchy is not just about replacing goals or assists. It is about confronting the reality that their star man might simply be a luxury item when what they really need is a warrior. And if the price is right, letting that luxury go might be the most sensible piece of business they do all summer.So where does this leave the narrative It leaves us with a harsh truth that many supporters will not want to hear. Milan are not losing a legend. They are losing a player who could have been one, but who never quite seized the mantle of leadership with both hands. That is not a crime, but it is a distinction that matters when the transfer fees start flying around. Costacurta has simply said out loud what many have been thinking in the stands. And for once, the old guard's assessment might be the most honest piece of analysis you will read anywhere.
