Dodi Lukebakio: The Missed Opportunity for AC Milan
There was a moment, not so long ago, when Dodi Lukebakio’s story at San Siro was supposed to be written in red and black, not as a visiting executioner.
Back in August 2025, while AC Milan were trying to piece together a new spine and weighing up a move for Adrien Rabiot in talks with Marseille, another name kept circling the recruitment meetings. Lukebakio. The old management, with Igli Tare at the controls, made their enquiry and ran the numbers. On the table was a winger who had just hit 11 goals in Spain with Sevilla, a profile that ticked box after box for a side bracing itself for change.
Milan were still dealing with the fallout from the failed arrival of Conrad Harder and searching for a replacement for Samuel Chukwueze, who was heading for Fulham with his suitcase already half-zipped. They needed pace, end product, someone who could unhinge a defence from the flank. The Belgian fit the bill: quick, versatile, a natural left-footer with a clean strike and the confidence to use it.
On Wednesday night, Davide Bartesaghi discovered exactly what that scouting report meant. Up close. Under the floodlights.
Lukebakio did what he has done across a restless career. He started wide, hugged the touchline just long enough to drag his marker out, then cut inside onto that left foot. One touch to open the angle, another to set the ball, then the trademark finish bent towards the far post. San Siro has seen that pattern countless times from Milan players over the years; this time it came from a man who might easily have been wearing their shirt. Instead, his opening goal carved them open.
The move that never happened now feels like a sliding door.
When talks cooled and Milan turned in a different direction, Lukebakio’s path veered away from Serie A. He left Spain and, in early September, signed for Benfica for around €25m, agreeing a five-year deal with a release clause set at €50m. While Milan recalibrated and chose another route for their right flank, the Portuguese club bet on a winger entering his prime.
At 28, Lukebakio already carries the stamps of a footballing nomad. Belgium, England, Germany, Spain, now Portugal – each stop adding a layer to his game. He has worn the Belgian national team shirt 33 times, scoring six goals, and wherever he has settled, the numbers have followed. Double figures in a single season for Hertha Berlin. The same for Fortuna Düsseldorf. Again at Sevilla.
This is not a one-off hot streak. It is a pattern.
Benfica know it. Milan were close enough to know it too, before stepping away. The player they once considered as a solution to their own attacking puzzle has become the kind of opponent who punishes hesitation, both on the pitch and in the market.
Now the question hangs over Lisbon instead of Milan: with his role fixed, his confidence sharpened and his finishing as ruthless as ever, how long before Lukebakio hits double figures again in a Benfica shirt?
