Former Italy striker Christian Vieri has defended Rafael Leao and his inconsistent form for AC Milan during the 2023/24 season.
Speaking whilst on Sportweek (via Milan News), the legendary striker opted not to stick the boot in on Leao who has come in for a lot of criticism during this campaign for failing to put together a run of good performances.
As Vieri points out, Leao is still only 24 years old which means, whilst not a young player, he has space to develop his game and there are many examples of players with his talent who do not manage to score every single week.
“He is 24 years old and still young. Highs and lows are expected from quality players. At Inter I had [Alvaro] Recoba. When I see Leao, I ask myself ‘what will he do now?’ A question you don’t ask with everyone, only with Theo [Hernandez] and Leao,” he said.
Leao has played 19 times for Milan in Serie A this season but has only managed to score three times, and he also has six assists. In the Champions League and the Coppa Italia, he has scored three goals.
His return is not bad, but considering how good everyone knows he can be in front of goal, he would like to improve those numbers considerably during the rest of the campaign.
As someone who scored 236 club goals during his career, Vieri certainly knows what it takes to be prolific in front of goal.
I thought consistency is expected from quality players.. And you know what. He is a 24yo with over 200 games under his belt. That is not a young player that needs to figure his game out
Here’s a thought. Pulisic is doing well because Leao is/has been pulling alot of attention over on the left wing
People don’t understand metrics other than goals scored… Leao, while not scoring is creating a lot of room for others to exploit. Doesn’t help that Giroud moves like a Washington Monument in the box. But others have benefited, like Puli and RLC.
Creates a lot but everytime he takes a shoot is wide af. Leao from Christmases past would’ve netted those. Also why can’t the right side create and leao taps in, havent seen that at all. We’re so shît