Leao continues to fuel debate over his future, including on his own Instagram profile, where he has changed his profile picture to an image of a young man picked out by a beam of light amid a crowd. His biography no longer contains any reference to Milan, a mention that had still been present just days ago.
Before the World Cup, Leao had made clear his intention to leave Milan, though not to stay in Italy, where he is only interested in continuing at the Rossoneri. The former Lille winger is still on holiday in Turkey, and supporters of both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce have taken notice, reading his social media stories from Istanbul as a hint of what could be coming.
AC Milan have set a price of around €40million for Leao, a figure influenced in part by his World Cup performances, in which he scored against Uzbekistan and provided an assist against Croatia, though he otherwise featured sparingly and was not used consistently by his national coach.
Both Turkish clubs have made preliminary enquiries in recent weeks, with Galatasaray reportedly willing to offer as much as €10million plus bonuses per season in wages, while Fenerbahce continue to weigh up other options before committing further.
For now, Leao remains in Turkey to rest, with a commercial event in Brazil scheduled for Friday before he is due to link up with his Milan team-mates on July 29 ahead of the club's pre-season tour of Australia. Unless Galatasaray, Fenerbahce or another club submit an offer Milan consider adequate before then, the winger looks set to report for pre-season duty regardless of the ongoing speculation over his long-term future.
With his contract running down and no interest yet emerging from the Premier League or LaLiga, the two leagues Leao has previously said he considers better suited to his style, Turkey now looks like the most realistic route out of Milanello, with the club prepared to accept a reduced fee simply to remove his salary from the books.