The 2026 World Cup journey is over for Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in the arguable GOAT's Last Dance, and that also means it is over for left winger Rafael Leao, who has been an impact player at the tournament in either a starting or a bench role. And he did enough against Croatia in the Round of 32 to pique Tottenham Hotspur's interest further, as he is being regularly linked as a potentially game changing flier for the Lilywhites this summer transfer window.
Leao and AC Milan have already decided that it is long past time they part ways. Now 27, Leao is no longer a young player, and he no longer wants to waste his prime at a club that does not appreciate either him or winning, hiring terrible managers like Paulo Fonseca and Max Allegri while selling their best players, such as former teammate Sandro Tonali and Tijjani Reijnders, and replacing them with virtual nobodies.
It seems like Leao is prepared to join an actual big club, and Tottenham are showing the ambition of one of the elites. Not only did they sign Jan Paul van Hecke and Mateus Fernandes for new manager Roberto De Zerbi, who is as ambitious as they come, but they also sealed the deal for the very same Tonali that Leao won the Scudetto with in 2022 when he was the literal MVP of Serie A.
Rafael Leao is acknowledging the links
In response to the official Sandro Tonali signing announcement made by Tottenham Hotspur, Rafael Leao liked the Instagram post, via The Spurs Express, and while that seems like a small gesture, everyone in this tuned in age of social media knows that an athlete doing this is a major wink to a club.
Leao is honoring his former teammate Tonali, one of the few with the qualitiy and brains at Milan to appreciate and understand the mercurial Portuguese's game, and he is also making a nod to Tottenham amidst the transfer rumors that this is something he wants and a project that excites him.
Even before the rumors started, when Leao's availability was expressed in the Italian media, Spurs supporters began whispering about the possibility of signing one of the most dynamic players in the world on the left wing at their biggest position of need - a player still linked to Arsenal, Chelsea, and the storied Barcelona. Now, the whispers have a chance to crescendo into shouts.
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