His presence at Milan has caught the attention of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and most recently Paris Saint-Germain. Rafael Leao himself, however, does not “burn out” at the moment, as he feels like a king in Milan, and the Rossoneri do not refuse him, along with professional football duties, to engage in his hobby – rap. having already released their first album.

A few days ago it was reported that Paris Saint-Germain’s Nasser Al Khelaifi was targeting the AC Milan player in the event that the scenario of Messi leaving Paris for Barcelona or the US is confirmed by MLS as well. At the same time, the player denied reports via social media that they wanted to break him from his team, as he demanded 10 million euros for a contract extension that expires in the summer of 2024.

Leo, however, is not only a football player. Outside the courts, he loves “rap”, while he already boasts his first record holder, whom he called “The Beginning”. At the same time, he also took part in the music video for the song “Longe” by BGang. As he stated in the Italian edition of Rolling Stone magazine: “I really like rap and when I retire from football, maybe I will do it in my life.”

23-year-old Leão has walked a path familiar to many Portuguese players. He started in the Sporting academies, as did Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Paulo Futre, although his path differs in detail because he did not leave Sporting in the best way. An internal incident led to an early termination of the contract, and the road took him to Lille as a free agent. There, he managed to unleash all his talent and “make” Milan pay 35 million euros for him in 2019 to make him theirs.

One of those who met Leo in his early years was Luis Martins, his first coach at the Lions academy. “The first time I saw Rafael was when I became technical director of the Sporting academy,” Martins recalls, continuing: “Every time I saw Rafael in his first U17 training, he was different and special. You know, we at Sporting have produced a lot of good players like Ronaldo and Figo. Because of this, we have the right to see when we have special talents right in front of our eyes. Then it was easy to see that Rafael was different from the others.”

Martins’ foresight allowed Leão to wear the Portugal under-17 jersey, and in 2016 he moved to Sporting B. Three months later, he was already in the main team.

Of course, the road is not always paved with rose petals, as there are always difficulties that both the player and his coaches have to overcome. In the case of Leão Martins and Sporting staff identified two key issues early on that they needed to address. “His physical condition, because he was at the final stage of his physical development, as well as some problems with muscles and joints,” says Martins.

From the first steps next to the player was always his father, who now always makes a “gift” in negotiations with Milan, playing an informal role as a manager. “Father always stayed with Rafael when he didn’t have training. He is very supportive, but at times he can become obsessive,” recalls Martins.

From an early age, Rafael acquired a sense of responsibility towards his father and his family. This placed a heavy burden on his shoulders, but, on the other hand, gave him the motivation to succeed. “There was a lot of pressure to turn pro, but he doesn’t show it. Whenever you talk to him, he is a good guy, very nice. He can hear and understand a lot of the smallest conversations,” Martins says.

Whenever a young striker excels in Portugal, he is inevitably compared to Ronaldo and Figo. This was true for Leo as well. “I have worked with both of them and I can say that they are definitely different players,” Martins emphasized, adding: “I worked with Cristiano at that age and what he showed us in terms of his future was something that is completely different. compared to Leo. Cristiano had the opportunity to work until the last minute of training, and then work even harder. But Leo is not like that. Works on a minimum and all. That’s what makes them different players.”

Unlike many kids who start playing football and want to be like Ronaldo and Messi, little Rafael just wanted to be Leo. The support he received from his family kept him committed to this goal. That is, to become a player of the first team of Sporting. The reason for the change of route was the incidents at the training base of Sporting, when angry fans of the team got to the locker room and beat the players. One of those who left then was Podense, who came to Greece and Olympiakos. In the summer of 2018, Leao traveled to France and Lille, a choice that then sent him to Milan, which led to the championship last year, after a full eleven years.

So how far can a man with Leo’s talent go in football? Martins says only time will tell. So far, however, the kid who dreamed of playing for Sporting already wears the Milan Champions League seven, and the Premier League, like a siren, calls him his song, although he probably prefers to listen and sing rap.