Luka Modric Discusses Rafael Leao's Future at Milan

Luka Modric has been at Milan only a short time, but he already understands the fault line running through the club’s summer: what happens with Rafael Leao.

As the transfer window tightens and the noise around San Siro grows louder, the Croatian stepped into the debate with the calm of someone who has seen every side of this game. No drama. No public pressure. Just a clear message of respect for a teammate whose future could reshape Milan’s attack.

“I don’t want to give him advice,” Modric told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Rafa is mature enough to know what’s best for him. He knows how much the fans and the club love him. He’s a great player and it’s great to have him here. He just has to work hard and give his best for Milan, as he always has done.”

That line says plenty. Modric refuses to play the role of elder statesman lecturing a younger star, but he doesn’t hide how much he values Leao. The Croatian’s stance mirrors the mood of a dressing room that knows exactly what it would lose if the Portuguese winger walks away.

Leao has been a pillar of the Rossoneri frontline for seven years, a constant reference point in an attack that has changed faces around him. At the end of the 2025-26 season, though, he made it clear he was ready to “test himself in a different environment,” opening the door to a transfer and inviting Europe’s elite to circle.

Since then, reality has complicated the script. Last season was not his finest. Modric admitted as much, without softening the edges.

“Maybe he’s not coming off the best season, he had a couple of injuries and wasn’t feeling at his best physically, but he’s still a great footballer,” he said.

The injuries disrupted Leao’s rhythm, blunting the explosiveness that usually defines his game. For a player who relies so heavily on acceleration, sharp changes of direction and confidence in one‑v‑one situations, those physical setbacks mattered. The end product dipped. So did the perception outside Milan.

Inside the club, though, the view is different. Modric sees the upside, not the dip.

“In my opinion, if he were to stay, it would be fantastic for all of us because he’s one of the best in the world when he’s at his peak,” he added.

That’s the crux of it. Milan are heading into a season without the financial cushion and sporting platform of Champions League football. They need difference-makers, not projects. A fully fit, fully focused Leao is exactly that: a player who can change a match in a single run, a single cut inside, a single shot bent into the far corner.

For Modric, who has joined precisely to inject experience and quality into a squad in transition, the prospect of lining up behind a firing Leao is a powerful incentive. It is also a reminder of what Milan risk losing if they decide – or are forced – to cash in.

The conversation around Leao is not just happening in the media. It has already reached the training pitch.

Head coach Ruben Amorim, speaking during Milan’s pre-season tour in Australia, has had to address the issue head‑on. The tone from the bench is more optimistic than the exit talk that swirled after the 2025-26 campaign.

“All the players are working really well: both those who started from day one and those who arrived later,” Amorim said. “Rafa is lucky to be at a club like Milan, so he should be happy. I feel he’s happy and motivated.”

That word – “motivated” – matters. It hints at a shift from the end of last season, when Leao’s desire for a “new challenge” sounded like the beginning of a farewell. Now, inside the camp, the message is that he is engaged, involved, plugged back into the Rossoneri project.

The tension between those two realities – a player who once spoke openly about leaving, and a squad that now senses his renewed focus – frames Milan’s summer.

Modric sits right in the middle of it. He knows the business side cannot be ignored. Contracts, offers, release clauses, balance sheets: all of it shapes what a club can and cannot do. But the footballer in him has no doubts.

“As I said, he and the club will decide what the best solution will be, but as a footballer, of course I want Rafa in my team,” he concluded.

That is the line that will echo around Milanello. The veteran who has shared a dressing room with some of the greatest talents of his era looks at Leao and wants him close, not on the other side of a Champions League anthem.

The decision will not be his. It will be Leao’s, and Milan’s, and the market’s. But as the window enters its decisive stretch, the message from one of the game’s most respected voices is clear: if Milan want to build something serious again, they are far better off doing it with Rafael Leao still in red and black.