{"id":46311,"date":"2026-04-25T02:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/rafael-leao-has-been-linked-with-manchester-united-again-but-heres-why-the-move-is-a-gamble\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T02:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:25:15","slug":"rafael-leao-has-been-linked-with-manchester-united-again-but-heres-why-the-move-is-a-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/rafael-leao-has-been-linked-with-manchester-united-again-but-heres-why-the-move-is-a-gamble\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Leao has been linked with Manchester United again, but here&#8217;s why the move is a gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rafael Leao has been linked with Manchester United (Photo by Marco Luzzani\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>AC Milan star Rafael Leao has been mentioned once again as a transfer target for Manchester United as speculation boils over over his future this summer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Portuguese international is a big name, but with the help of our Transfer Fit rating system, we believe this is a risky potential deal for Man United. Learn more about how it works here.<\/p>\n<p>Leo has undoubtedly shown moments of real quality during his time at Milan, so it may not be surprising that first the Daily Mail and now Calciomercato reported on interest from the Red Devils.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Download the official CaughtOffSide app to get all the latest news and updates straight to your phone. above <span role=\"presentation\"><u>apple<\/u><\/span>  &#038; <span role=\"presentation\"><u>Google play<\/u><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Still, taking into account his recent stats, injury record, age and likely high transfer fee, Leo and United&#8217;s score looks like this&#8230;<\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\"><strong>Rafael Leo<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\"><strong>Total score: 11\/25<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">Transfer fee<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">performance<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">***<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">performance<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">***<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">career phase<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">**<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">The need for squads<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%;\">**<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>MUFC already have a pretty decent attack, so it seems clear that it&#8217;s not a deal worth risking that much money on this summer.<\/p>\n<p>11\/25 is on the mid-range and is by no means a disastrous deal, but a combination of factors means it feels like one of United&#8217;s big-ticket signings in the past.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1-414x387.jpg.webp 414w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1-630x589.jpg.webp 630w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1-768x718.jpg.webp 768w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1-770x720.jpg.webp 770w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1-900x841.jpg.webp 900w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1-1200x1121.jpg.webp 1200w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1-1536x1435.jpg.webp 1536w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DataMB-Screenshot-1.jpg.webp 1680w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 770px, (min-width:1020px) 630px, (min-width:900px) 880px, (min-width:680px) 97vw, (min-width:414px) 414px, 100vw\"><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rafael Leao stats vs Brian Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha (DataMB)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>What\u2019s next for Rafael Leao?<\/h2>\n<p>Milan wouldn&#8217;t be too keen on letting Leo go, so it will be interesting to see if this speculation really leads to anything.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal have also recently been linked with the 26-year-old by Football Transfers, which could be a story to watch as well, and in fairness the Gunners probably need a player of that profile more than United right now.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Want more catchoffside coverage? Add us <\/i><\/b><b><i><span draggable=\"true\">Google recommended sources<\/span><\/i><\/b><b><i>    Add trusted news to your favorites list<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>United will focus on other priorities this summer after signing a completely new front three with the signings of Matheus Cunha, Brian Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesco last year.<\/p>\n<p>For Leo, who has never played in the Premier League before, English football will probably feel like a much bigger step up than Italy.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rafael Leao has been linked with Manchester United (Photo by Marco Luzzani\/Getty Images) AC Milan star Rafael Leao has been mentioned once again as a transfer target for Manchester United as speculation boils over over his future this summer. The Portuguese international is a big name, but with the help of our Transfer Fit rating [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-46311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}