The Athletic’s Leeds United-oriented journalist Phil Hay has recently talked about the situation of Raphinha.
Hay talked about the Elland Road-based side on the latest episode of the Phil Hay show and he discussed many Leeds players. One man that he did focus on was the club’s summer signing Raphinha. The journalist believes that clubs above Leeds in the pecking order could well be looking to sign the Brazilian at some point in the future.
Raphinha had joined Leeds from Rennes in the summer transfer window for a fee of only £17m plus add-ons. In the Whites’ recent game against Crystal Palace, the winger impressed for Marcelo Bielsa’s side. The 24-year-old picked up a rating of 7.1 and scored in the recent game against Everton, even though it came in a losing cause (as per Whoscored).
Will Leeds keep hold of Raphinha till 2022?
Yes
No
Hay believes that the narrative around Raphinha has changed to people questioning whether Leeds can end up keeping him at the club in the longer term and he believes that clubs may well be looking at him already.
The journalist said (13:18): “There’s a lot of talk and you know, the narrative around him at the moment has suddenly become, how long will Leeds be able to hang on to him for and I don’t know whether that’s premature. I don’t know whether it’s a bit excessive.
“And, you know, there will be clubs, keeping tabs on him, because why wouldn’t you? You know, he is that good. But I think that does say something about the impact he’s had. The fact that people can see already, that if sides further up the elite pyramid than Leeds at the moment were keen and had the money, then they might well be tempted. And it’s quite difficult to argue otherwise.”
TIF Thoughts on Raphinha…
In the current season, Raphinha has generated an Expected Assists per 90 minutes tally of as much as 0.23. That’s the most in the current Leeds side. He has also generated an Expected Goals per 90 minutes tally of 0.26, which is the fourth-best in Bielsa’s team right now (as per FBRef).
He has completed 19 carries into the penalty area, which is the highest tally for the Whites. He has created four shot creation actions from dribbles – the highest in the team (as per FBRef).
It shows his effectiveness as a player and it suggests how important he is for the team. Because of that, it may not be a surprise if big clubs come calling for him soon.