The Portugal international has been linked with a move to Parc des Princes this summer as the French champions brace for their star man to depart
After all the speculation, all the hearsay, all of the column inches filled and clicks on websites generated, Kylian Mbappe has elected to stay in Paris — for now. Barring some sort of seismic spectacular event, a mishap in paperwork, or a season-ending injury, it seems that the controversial Parisian playmaker will play out the rest of his contract with his hometown club for the next few months.
But in six months, the situation could look radically different. There is mass uncertainty about Mbappe's future, and the transfer rumours have started to swirl. If Mbappe does leave Paris Saint-Germain, then Real Madrid seems the most likely destination.
That would leave PSG with a massive hole to fill. And among the incessant chatter as to who they could call upon to offset the loss of arguably their club's greatest ever player, one name keeps cropping up: Rafael Leao. Reports in both the Italian and French press have suggested that the Portugal winger could be on the move from AC Milan this summer, with the glitz of Paris beckoning him across Europe.
What might seem like a throwaway story now, though, would make a lot of sense. Leao is the kind of exciting attacking star that PSG fans want, and the kind of dynamic forward that manager Luis Enrique needs. If Mbappe is to depart, then Leao would be the right man to carry out the unenviable job of filling the void.
Getty/GOALMbappe's state of play
The Mbappe saga, of course, is getting increasingly complicated. So far this season, Mbappe has gone about teasing the press and PSG fans like with aplomb, offering no real insight while speaking in vague platitudes.
We know for certain that he will play out the remainder of the season in Paris. We also know that he is committed to helping the club with the Champions League, and would be open to staying at the club beyond this year. But it has also been suggested by the player himself that there is an existing "agreement" between him and the PSG hierarchy, which is presumed to involve him ensuring that if he does leave this summer, the French club do not lose him for free.
Still, footballing instinct suggests that Mbappe will likely be playing in Madrid white next season. He has flirted with Los Blancos too much, for too long, to do otherwise. He is now 25, and will need to pen a long-term contract somewhere soon. Madrid seem the more likely side to tie him down — especially given the now-overemphasised fact that he is a Cristiano Ronaldo fanboy at heart. This has to happen at some point, and it finally looks like the right time.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLeao, and what he would bring
So who fills his boots? Put bluntly, there are very few players who can come close to replacing Mbappe. For a long time, Sadio Mane seemed the nearest comparison, but age, fitness and a spiral into irrelevancy have ruled him out. Bernardo Silva, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kingsley Coman have all also been linked with varying degrees of sincerity in the past.
Enter Leao. He is a different kind of player to Mbappe, but possesses some of similar traits. Leao is an exceptionally direct winger, who functions best as an inside forward. A creative player in his younger days, the 24-year-old has evolved into a goalscorer who can also grab an assist. As an illustration, he scored six goals in Serie A as a teenager for Milan in the 2019-20 campaign, while last season, he bagged 15, and added eight assists in the league. Expand his numbers to all competitions for club and country in 2022-23, and he tallied 33 direct goal contributions, roughly a goal or an assist every game.
Those aren't Mbappe numbers, they aren't close, but Leao offers a different kind of presence. He is taller, stronger and more direct than Mbappe – a 6'3 winger who is as comfortable bodying defenders off the ball as he is running around them.
There is also the benefit that Leao knows Ligue 1 to some extent. He spent the 2018-19 season at Lille, where he found the net eight times in 16 starts as a 19-year-old. And perhaps most importantly, at just 24, you'd feel that there's a lot more football to come – especially under a tactician as adept as Luis Enrique.
Getty ImagesHow PSG could line-up with Leao
Luis Enrique has fiddled around with his PSG system so far this seaosn, at times deploying an orthodox 4-3-3, at others playing what is effectively a 4-2-4, with Mbappe and Randal Kolo Muani as a de-facto strike partnership.
Leao would seem to fit as a left-winger in Luis Enrique's preferred attacking trio, likely with Kolo Muani through the middle and Ousmane Dembele on the right. That's a fearsome attacking trident, all pace, creativity and trickery — but not exactly lethal finishing.
Perhaps the better formation for the Portugal international, then, would be something resembling a 4-2-4. Goncalo Ramos, signed for an initial €65m (£57m/$70m) this summer, has yet to fully get his chance in a PSG shirt, often kept out of the XI by Mbappe. He wasn't necessarily a Luis Enrique signing, and no one can budge Mbappe from this PSG team. But there is a world in which he lines up alongside Kolo Muani, with Leao coming off the left and Dembele on the right. It's an attacking unit that's asking for trouble against the very best, but against the low blocks that the Parisians so often face in Ligue 1, it just might make sense.
Getty ImagesWill it happen?
Just this past summer, a PSG move for Leao would have felt fanciful at best. Milan, remember, were Champions League semi-finalists, and though manager Stefano Pioli had his critics, he had enough credit in the bank after winning the Scudetto the previous year. There was also the rather obvious caveat that Leao had only recently penned a long-term deal to keep him in Italy until 2028.
Things have since changed, though. Milan were lucky to scrape into the Europa League knockouts this time around after enduring a forgettable Champions League group stage. They are also eight points off the top of Serie A, something made worse by the fact that the current leaders are bitter rivals Inter. Pioli's job has been called into question repeatedly, and there's a real possibility that he could lose it.
Managerial shifts can always lead to personnel changes, and Pioli moving on – sacked or otherwise – would make Leao's situation more precarious than ever. Factor in that PSG football advisor Luis Campos signed Leao for Lille back in 2018, and this seems even more likely, especially given the Parisians' deep pockets.