Leao responds to Maldini's comments and Real Madrid links

was happy to hear that

might be interested, but the

forward said his "feet will stay firmly on the ground."

Since joining Milan from

Lille

in 2019, the Portugal international has been a star. He was a big reason why

Stefano Pioli

's team won the Scudetto for the first time in 11 years.

Leao played in 34 Serie A games during the 2021-22 season. He scored 11 goals and set up eight others. He set up two goals in the 3-0 win over Sassuolo on the last day, which sealed the title.

Olivier Giroud also scored 11 league goals for Milan this season, but no other player scored more goals or set up more goals than him. Only Adama Traore (107),

Kylian Mbappe

(112), and Allan Saint-Maximin (150) have done more dribbles than Leao (98) in Europe's top five leagues.

There have been rumors that Madrid are interested in Pioli's key player after they missed out on PSG's Mbappe, but Leao says he is focused on his life with the Rossoneri. He told A Bola, "I'm at Milan, and I have two more years left on my contract." "Untouchable? I like the way these words sound. I'm comfortable here, but right now I'm concentrating on the national team.

"I'm happy about the rumors about Real Madrid, but I'm not getting my hopes up. It's great to work with players who have a lot of experience.

"As for how I grew, when I was young, I left Sporting [CP] and went to Lille. People might not know this, but Ligue 1 is a very good league." Leao will now try to win the World Cup with Portugal in Qatar, where he will play with Cristiano Ronaldo, who also came from the Sporting academy.

"The last two years haven't gone the way I wanted, but now that I'm older and more sure of myself, this season has gone the way I wanted," he said. "I want to be successful in the future. I want to be a leader in both my club and the national team... For example, winning a World Cup is a high point."

The technical director of Milan, Paolo Maldini, says that Leao will never be sold by the Rossoneri. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport, "Of course, he's not for sale." "He is still a rough diamond, but he has improved a lot from one year to the next.

"We bought him from Lille for €24 million and put a €150 million release clause on him right away because we thought so much of him. He has always had the potential to be a great champion, but he needs to keep growing and getting better. He is very smart, but he needed help along the way, so I talked with him a lot.

"Things could change if Milan aren't as good as Leao in the future or if Leao isn't as good as Milan. But right now, both the club and the player are growing at a very fast rate."

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