Spanish giants Barcelona are said to be joining the race for coveted AC Milan forward Rafael Leao. The 23-year-old has been in astounding form for the Serie A champions and is attracting interest from all over Europe.

The race for Rafael Leao’s services is getting hotter with every passing week and he is expected to be one of the most coveted signings in Europe. Barcelona has now joined that race for Leao and according to a report by Italian outlet Calciomercatoweb, he is the subject of plenty of interest from the Catalan club.

Any pursuit of Leao is not going to be easy though as AC Milan has already made it clear to potential suitors plenty of times that they will only be looking to part ways with him if anyone shells out over €100 million next summer.

Following his breakthrough season with Milan, the Portuguese international has become one of the hottest properties in Europe. After moving to the Rossoneri from Lille in 2019, he exploded onto the stage in 2021 and played a massive role in leading them to the Scudetto last season.

He had always been brimming with talent and potential but his game has reached new heights at the San Siro.

On the back of his prolific 2021/22 campaign where Milan were crowned as champions of Italy, Leao unsurprisingly won the Serie Most Valuable Player of the Year award. He has continued his outstanding trajectory this season as well and has hit the ground running.

The Portuguese have a tally of seven goals and nine assists in 20 appearances so far this season. It goes without saying that the player’s exploits have captured the attention of several bigwigs from all over the continent, including Barcelona.

The Catalan giants recently strengthened their attack with the additions of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha this summer while also retaining the services of Ousmane Dembele. However, Memphis Depay could be on his way out soon as he is no longer integral to Xavi’s plans and the Dutch attacker could even be offloaded in the winter transfer market.

In addition, Ferran Torres finds himself in an uncomfortable situation at Camp Nou after falling down the pecking order this season. Leao has thus emerged as a viable target for Barcelona, with the 23-year-old going from strength to strength in Italy. With that being said, Barcelona will find it very difficult to compete with other clubs given their much-publicized economic distress.