Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics that he spent some time on was Raphinha and the potential of him playing centrally for the Whites at some stage.
The 23-year-old was handed his first Premier League start and completed 90 minutes against Arsenal last weekend, and he impressed from his position on the right, earning a 7.07/10 rating from WhoScored for his performance.
On his player profile, it states that Raphinha can play on either wing but not in the centre though he has played there on the odd occasion throughout his career.
However, it seems as if, according to Hay, Marcelo Bielsa thinks that Raphinha could play in the centre at some point.
He said: “In terms of playing centrally, we have asked Bielsa about this, and he says that at the moment he considers Raphinha to be the right-winger or a left-winger – but he has spoken a little bit about trying to convert him to the point where he could be a number ten and where he could play centrally from the off.
“That sort of feeds back into the variation that he looks at, or the adaptability [and] versatility in every player.
“So, I think it’s something he will look at.”
Do you think Raphinha should stay where he is?
Yes, he looked good on the right
No, I want to see him centrally
TIF Thoughts on Raphinha and potentially changing his position…
Leeds currently have seven players, including Raphinha, who can play as either a right-winger or a left-winger.
They only have four players who can play as an attacking midfielder, so looking at that, you can see why Bielsa might think about changing Raphinha’s position at some point.
Two of the players who have played in that role this season, Rodrigo and Pablo Hernandez, have also not turned in the best performances so far in the Premier League.
So, perhaps Raphinha could be given a chance in that attacking midfield role at some stage.
However, we think that for now, he should stay on the right after an impressive performance against the Gunners from that position.