Despite looking set for another dominant season in La Liga, Real Madrid is looking to bolster its squad with another prolific striker.
Real Madrid has done quite a good job in its current campaign, having won six of its first 10 La Liga matches.
However, Los Blancos are believed to be opting to add depth to its frontline.
Paris Saint-Germain talisman Kylian Mbappe remains Real Madrid’s top priority, but AC Milan’s Rafael Leao is also now on the club’s radar, Spanish outlet Fichajes reported.
International Business Times could not independently verify this information.
According to the report, Real Madrid has shown interest in securing the services of Leao and is plotting a transfer swoop in the summer of 2022.
Leao didn’t quickly make an impact in AC Milan, but he managed to find his rhythm and ended up earning a regular first-team spot in Stefano Pioli’s side.
The Portuguese forward has made a total of 86 appearances for the Rossoneri to date, registering a remarkable tally of 18 goals and 11 assists.
This season, Leao has been enjoying a productive run with the Serie A side, having already notched five goals in 13 games across all competitions.
A product of the famed Sporting CP youth academy, Leao first impressed under the tutelage of the club’s former manager Tiago Fernandes.
Fernandes is among the coaches who are well aware of what Leao can do inside the pitch.
In fact, he was even convincing AC Milan to do its best to keep his former pupil, whom he described as a “potential champion.”
"Milan shouldn’t part ways with him [Leao], they have a potential champion in their hands," Fernandes told Gazzetta Dello Sport in June. "I have never seen someone like Leao. I trained him for the first time when he was 12."
In 2019, it can be recalled that Fernandes also boldly claimed that as a youngster, Leao was “better” than his compatriot and fellow Sporting legend Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Rafael is the best player in the history of the Sporting Academy," the coach told French outlet L’Equipe in 2019. "As a youngster, he was better than Cristiano Ronaldo."
Aside from Leao, an earlier report said that Real Madrid is also sizing up a transfer move for Bayer Leverkusen’s new signing Iker Bravo.
Like most of the talented youngsters from Spain, Bravo was honed in the famous Barcelona Academy.
However, the teenage striker left his boyhood club for Bayer Leverkusen this past summer in the hope to jump his way up to first-team football.