Zlatan Ibrahmovic has urged Rafael Leao to stay at AC Milan in January amid increased interest from Chelsea.
Graham Potter has made no secret of his admiration of Leao since the forward played against the Blues in the Champions League earlier this season. The Portuguese star impressed throughout both matches, although Chelsea came out on top in each of the two group games to an aggregate score of 5-0.
The 23-year-old has grabbed six goals in 14 Serie A matches this season as Milan look to defend their title - with Leao shining on the left-hand side. He followed his form up for his club with a series of excellent cameo appearances at the Qatar World Cup, scoring twice in the process against Ghana and Switzerland.
Chelsea have been heavily linked with the player as Potter tries to bolster his forward options, but veteran forward Ibrahimovic is keen to see his teammate stay at San Siro. The Swede is currently out of action with an ACL injury but is determined to help his team in the best possible way while he's not playing.
He said, via the Metro : "Of course, Milan is the right environment for him. Just look at his growth, when he arrived, he was far from the decisive player he is today. Here he is very important for us, elsewhere would he be as important? He would have to start from scratch, you can’t be sure he would be ready right away.
"At Milan he has confidence, space and freedom, which is not a given at another club, it’s up to you. Besides, you can see that he is happy here, by now he is laughing even before scoring. He is the young man who has grown the most.
"Theo has improved so much, De Ketelaere is strong, and patience is needed. But Leao is on another level, above average. He lacks a step, he will only do it when he is fully convinced of his abilities.
"Today even he doesn’t really know how strong he is. Then he will be really scary. And the price will go up."
Speaking about his future earlier this month, meanwhile, Leao indicated his focus for the time being was on his international commitments but talks would re-start imminently. Leao currently has 18 months left on his contract at Milan and has also been linked to the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United.
He said: "I will speak to AC Milan [again] about my contract situation once the World Cup is over. We had a positive meeting with [technical director] Paolo Maldini before the World Cup, it was a good one – we’ll enter into details after the break."
