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Leao, a pillar of AC Milan for better and for worse: he needs to be replaced, the attacking options are thin

Leao is very strong but also unfinished: the feeling among the AC Milan faithful on the subject is one of regret for what could have been but was not

Rafa Leao is on the verge of leaving AC Milan. He has long divided opinion, hugely talented but ultimately unfulfilled. Among Rossoneri fans, the feeling now seems to be regret for what might have been and never was. The Portuguese forward reached the summit in the year of the Serie A title, then followed it with top-level performances in the Champions League, but then an inexorable decline set in, right up to the present day.

For all his enormous potential, his attitude, his nature and a lack of hunger stopped him from fully expressing it in a Rossoneri shirt. It is right that their paths now part, because his cycle at Milanello is well and truly over, as he himself said on several occasions in the summer.

Still, Milan fans, and above all the Rossoneri club, should not underestimate his departure. The management have a duty to replace him properly, because even if Leao is now viewed as an ordinary player, he was never an ordinary player for AC Milan.

He has 80 goals and 65 assists in 291 matches: 145 goal contributions in a Rossoneri shirt. He has been a pillar, for better and for worse. He has taken plenty of criticism, and he deserved it. But he has also been hugely decisive over the years. Without him, Milan will lose a lot of goals and a lot of assists. The balance at the end of the year will have to add up or rather, it will have to improve on last year.

That is why Leao should be replaced by a top-level player.If things stay as they are, as has been circulating in recent hours, the club will be making a major mistake.

Goncalo Ramos has been added, and he will bring goals. But nobody can know today whether Cissè will confirm the good things he showed in his first outing. Nor whether Pulisic will return to being a decisive player.

Camarda has only one goal in Serie A. On that front, Amorim made it clear that the centre-forward options in the attacking department will remain as they are. I think they are very short in that area: Ramos and Camarda alone are not enough for a 50-match season. That is why, in these conditions, Gimenez staying, with all the risks that entails, might not be bad news.

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