Chelsea Eye Up Rafael Leão: Could A Wild Card Change Fortunes For The Club?

Meta: As Chelsea FC eye up Portuguese professional footballer Rafael Leao, who currently plays as a forward for Serie A club AC Milan, people are asking, could a wild card like him change fortunes for the club?

Chelsea recently ramped up their interest in 23-year-old Rafael Leão, and it looks as though the new Chelsea owner will get his man for a reported fee of £84 million. The Portuguese striker currently plays for his country on a national level and for Serie A club AC Milan at a domestic level. It will be a club record signing for the blues, but will a wild card like Leão change fortunes for the Central London club? 

Who is Rafael Leão?

Rafael Leão is a men’s professional football player who was born in Almada, Portugal, in June 1999. The Portuguese international plays as a forward/winger, and he started his senior career at Sporting CP B in the 2016/17 season before joining the first team the following season. He then went on to play for Lille in the 2018/19 season and eventually moved to AC Milan, where he has played since 2019. He has also played on nine separate occasions for the Portuguese national side, making his first appearance in 2021. 

While playing for Sporting CP, he won the Taça da Liga cup in 2017/18. He won the Serie A league title with AC Milan in the 2021/22 season and the U17 UEFA European Championship while playing for his country in 2016. On an individual level, he was Serie A’s most valuable player in 2021/22 and was part of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament in 2017. 

He is a fast-paced player, can play well with both feet, and currently wears the number 17 shirt for the Italian giants. However, it looks as though a move to Chelsea will go ahead. Did you know that you can place a variety of football bets for some of the world’s top leagues right now at a popular Ghana online sports betting site called 10Bet Africa? It’s a fully licensed gambling site and one of the best websites for African sports fans. 

Chelsea FC signings so far in 2022

Here are some of the biggest signings so far in 2022 for Chelsea FC. The most expensive signing in recent months was for Brighton’s left-back, Marc Cucurella, who came to the club for a reported fee of £58.77 million. Chelsea spent an incredible £50.58 million to bring in Raheem Sterling (left winger) from Manchester City and £34.20 million on SSC Napoli’s centre-back, Kalidou Koulibaly. 

The club also spent a further £16.20 million on Carney Chukwuemeka (Aston Villa, central mid), £13.50 million on another central midfielder (Inter Milan’s Cesare Casadei), and approximately £8.18 million on goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina who plays in the MLS for Chicago. Other new arrivals to the first team squad include Conor Gallagher (central midfielder), Armando Broja (centre forward), Ethan Ampadu (centre back), and Matt Miazga (centre back). 

Departures

The most notable player to have left Chelsea was Timo Werner, a centre-forward who went to RB Leipzig for a mere £18.00 million. Left-back Emerson went to West Ham for a reported fee of £13.86 million, and both Romelu Lukaku and Malang Sarr went out on loan to Inter Milan and Monaco, respectively. Other departures on a free transfer were Antonio Rüdiger (to Real Madrid), Andreas Christensen (Barcelona), Jake Clarke-Salter (QPR), and Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid), to name just a few. 

How likely is it that Chelsea will sign Rafael Leão?

At the time of writing, nothing is set in stone, and it looks as though Chelsea will face an uphill battle to get their man. However, it seems that if Chelsea can make the right bid amount, they should easily be able to push the sale through and bring Rafael Leão to the club. It has been a strange transfer window so far, and we have seen big clubs swoop in and hijack transfers that seemed almost certain. 

You never know; another big club may do the same to Chelsea, come in with the same bid (or higher bid) and end up signing Leão. It would be good to see the young Portuguese player in the Premier League playing against Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham. We will just have to wait and see what happens. 

If he stays at AC Milan, he looks set to face Sassuolo away on Tuesday, August 30th, at home to arch-rivals Inter Milan on September 3rd, and then away to Sampdoria on September 11th. While some consider him a wild card for Chelsea and a bit of a gamble, others see him as a perfect fit for the team.