Milan's Plans After Rafael Leao: Targeting Brahim Diaz
Milan are drawing up life after Rafael Leao, and the plan has a familiar face at its heart.
Milan look back to move forward
With the Rossoneri scouring the market for a new attacking midfielder, Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz has re-emerged as a prime target. According to Corriere della Sera, Milan have circled the Moroccan international as their preferred option for the No. 10 role after losing the race for Konstantinos Karetsas, the highly rated Greek teenager who has joined Borussia Dortmund from Genk in a €33 million deal.
Karetsas was supposed to be one for the future. Diaz, Milan know can deliver now.
He spent three seasons in red and black between 2020 and 2023, on loan from Madrid, and left a clear imprint on the club. Across 124 appearances, he scored 18 goals and provided 15 assists, often operating between the lines, knitting together attacks and injecting the kind of spark San Siro demands. He played his part in the 2022 Scudetto, a title that dragged Milan back to the summit of Serie A and restored a sense of belonging among Italy’s elite.
Those memories have not faded. Nor has his contract in Spain: Diaz is tied to Real Madrid until 2027, a detail that complicates any negotiation and ensures this will not be a bargain hunt.
Milan are not short of alternatives. Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri, one of England’s brightest prospects, remains on their list, as does Roma’s Matias Soule, who impressed on loan and continues to attract admiring glances across the league. Juventus had also shown interest in Diaz before turning their attention to Bayer Leverkusen’s Karim Alaibegovic, leaving Milan with a cleaner run at a player they know inside out.
But the real storm in Milan is not about who comes in. It is about who might walk out.
Leao’s seven-year chapter nears its end
Inside the club, every serious conversation circles back to one name: Rafael Leao. The Portuguese forward has made it clear he feels his seven-year adventure with Milan is reaching its natural conclusion. For a player who has grown from raw talent to match-winner in that time, it feels like a crossroads.
His ambition pointed first towards England or Spain. The Premier League or La Liga, the stages he considered the next logical step. No concrete offers arrived from either front. No bidding war. No decisive move.
So the horizon has shifted.
Leao has started to consider Turkey, and that possibility is no longer a whisper. Galatasaray are preparing their move, armed with something powerful: a place in next season’s Champions League, a card their rivals Fenerbahce cannot play. For a player used to European nights and the glare of the biggest stages, that matters.
The idea appeals to him. Istanbul, a leading role, continental football. But it will not come cheap. Leao is asking for a salary north of €10 million, a figure that instantly narrows the field and underlines his status as one of the most coveted attacking talents on the market.
Milan’s stance is equally firm. They will not entertain a loan. Any departure must be a permanent sale, a clean break that allows them to reinvest and reshape the squad without the uncertainty of a temporary exit hanging over the dressing room.
So the club stands at a delicate juncture: one eye on Brahim Diaz and the creative heartbeat he once provided, the other on Leao and the void his exit would create on the left flank. The past and the possible future, running side by side.
If Galatasaray put the money on the table and Real Madrid open the door, Milan’s attack could look very different by the end of the summer. The question now is not whether change is coming, but how radical that change will be.
