Niall McCaughan, Jim Salveson, Ian Brannan and Tom Moore all appeared on a recent edition of the Football Social Daily podcast and during the show, Brannan spent some time talking about Leeds United attacker Raphinha after he made his debut for the Whites as a substitute in Monday’s Premier League clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Raphinha is one of seven new players who have joined the Whites permanently thus far in the 2020/21 campaign, with the Brazilian attacker moving to Elland Road from Ligue 1 side Rennes on deadline day of the most recent international transfer window.
The 23-year-old was only introduced to Monday’s game in the 82nd minute, however, during this recent edition of the Football Social Daily podcast, Brannan shared that he thinks the fact the Brazilian featured at all says a lot about where he stands with Whites manager Marcelo Bielsa and he went on to share that he thinks Raphinha is an “exciting player.”
He said: “The fact that he’s got his debut in his first full game where he’s actually available to play, I think, tells you all you need to know on how Marcelo Bielsa thinks of him because there’s been plenty of players who’ve been signed by Leeds who we haven’t actually seen in any game yet.
“To make his debut as he did, I think that shows huge endorsement from Marcelo Bielsa in his abilities and I think you could see that he’s got a good touch and I think he’s going to be an exciting player and he was an exciting player for Rennes – they were absolutely heartbroken in France to see him go.”
Did Raphinha show some promise in his debut performance for Leeds?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what Brannan had to say about Raphinha following his Leeds debut…
As per WhoScored, Raphinha earned the highest overall rating (7.13) of any Rennes player to have made more than one appearance in Ligue 1 during the 2019/20 campaign, as his five league goals and three league assists helped the Brittany-based side to finish in third place in France’s top-flight and earn a place in this season’s UEFA Champions League.
Raphinha also started this season off positively with Rennes, as his one goal and two assists for them in the 2020/21 Ligue 1 campaign has made him their highest-rated player (7.15) to have played in more than one league game this term according to WhoScored.
With that in mind, it may be understandable why Brannan thinks Raphinha showed that he is an “exciting player” during his time at Rennes and seemingly believes he is an “exciting player” for the Whites to have in their ranks. He also seems to think that it was a huge decision from Bielsa to hand the Brazilian his Leeds debut in the recent 1-0 defeat against Wolves, considering how recently he joined the club.
If the Brazilian can settle in quickly with his new club and produce similar performances to the ones he produced in Ligue 1, we feel that he could prove to be a key player for Bielsa’s side this term.