Leao only wants Milan: stay Rossoneri. Modric towards farewell: World Cup and then retirement?

There is a champion who could have said goodbye to football on Sunday evening at San Siro. And another, much more discussed and less “issimo”, who would not like to give up his Milan and his Milan, despite the rumors. Let’s talk about Luka Modric and Rafael Leao, two different faces of today’s Devil. The Croatian The free kick kicked into the area in the 95th and 58th minute of Milan-Cagliari risks being the last ball of Lukita’s decades-long club career. Who knows, if it had turned into the Rossoneri’s 2-2 goal, today we would be talking about a different story. Instead, with the Devil knocked out and out of the Champions League, the thought of quitting football is increasingly gaining ground in the Croatian champion’s head. Of course, first there is the fifth World Cup, which could therefore turn into his farewell tour, as the Americans say. But the scene of Luka taking off his mask on Sunday, with his face worn out by defeat, has an effect: at almost 41 years old, Modric dreamed of one last dance in the Cup which he won six times (no one better than him). And – it can be said without fear of contradiction – he honestly deserved it, after a season as an absolute protagonist, despite his identity card. Instead, everything ended in the cruelest way. And now?

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After all, a year ago the former Real Madrid player accepted the move to Milan without Europe in order to fulfill his childhood desire to wear the shirt of his idol Zvonimir Boban. And the club’s position towards him has not changed: the Croatian has an option for a further year together and both Gerry Cardinale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic hope we can move forward together. There are, however, also other reasons that push Luka towards farewell. The general direction that Milan could take, for example. Modric has always made it clear that to continue he would need the incentive to fight to win next season. “I want to lift a trophy with Milan”, he repeated in every interview given during his Italian adventure. But with the management completely wiped out and a project that needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, it is difficult to think of a Devil immediately in the running for the title. Furthermore, it is no mystery that Luka was very close to Max Allegri. With the dismissal of the Livorno coach, one of his reference points in the Rossoneri is no longer there. The question is, therefore, obvious: will Cardinale be able to convince Modric to put aside his doubts and continue with football in the Rossoneri shirt?

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Leao’s situation is different. Rafa has a contract until 2028 and is just 26 years old. He has just returned from a season of ups and downs, the latter concentrated above all in the last few months, also due to physical problems. This is why Milan has opened up to a possible transfer, faced with a reasonable offer. Turkish clubs have already knocked on the window, with Galatasaray in particular ready to put on the table a proposal of 10 million euros net salary for the attacker. But Leao, at the moment, doesn’t want to know about leaving Milan and has already communicated it to his former teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic. His intention is to try to get back up together with the team that has contributed to making him great in the last seven years, despite a season in which San Siro often treated him very harshly, with groans and above all boos. Rafa will try to turn them into applause. Unless Milan decides to throw him out in a decisive way.