Manchester City may have spent €175 million in the transfer market already this summer, but Pep Guardiola has demanded that the board splash out again on another attacker.
AC Milan winger Rafael Leao has caught the eye of Guardiola, Fichajes reports, with the Spanish source indicating that the manager has “demanded” his side launch a bid for the 26-year-old winger.
The Serie A side have previously put a €100 million price tag of the Portugal star, who has been in excellent form in pre-season.
Leao lit up AC Milan’s 4-2 victory over Liverpool in a pre-season friendly last weekend. He scored the opener with a thumping finish from a tight angle after leaving Virgil van Dijk bamboozled then set up Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s second.
The former Lille star then scored twice in the 9-0 midweek win over Perth Glory.
WHAT A GOAL FROM RAFAEL LEÃO 😤
Christian Pulisic plays a perfect outlet pass and the 26-year-old Portuguese star does the rest 👊 pic.twitter.com/DN7ImhrwlI
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) July 26, 2025
An explosive attacking force
Guardiola wants to sign Leao because of the additional explosiveness he could bring in the wide areas to Manchester City.
At times in recent years, the Cityzens have been ponderous on the wing, with Guardiola now ready to offload Jack Grealish and prepared to listen to offers for Jeremy Doku.
Now he has earmarked Rafael Leao as the player he wants to solve that problem and, crucially, is ready to pay €100m to sign the winger.
Milan do not want to sell, but they are likely to see such an offer as too good to reject. The 26-year-old forward, who is under contract until 2028, has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €72m.
Since joining the Rossoneri for €50m in 2019, Leao has become an important source of attacking production. He has hit double figures in both goals and assists across all competitions in each of the last four seasons.
Guardiola wants these attributes in his team to lighten the load on Erling Haaland and propel Man City back towards the top of the Premier League standings.
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