Speaking on the Blue, White and Yellow Podcast, Leeds United journalist Beren Cross dropped a claim on the future of Raphinha.
The Brazilian had tentatively been linked with a move to Liverpool over the summer, however, nothing ever came to fruition and the winger has remained at Elland Road ahead of his second Premier League campaign.
Did Leeds have a good transfer window?
Yes
No
The winger enjoyed a superb debut season in England following his deadline-day move from Rennes in 2020, as he scored six goals and registered nine assists in the top flight which helped Leeds finish ninth in the Premier League.
Cross discussed what Leeds must achieve to keep pace with Raphinha.
“We’ve seen that with all the best Brazilian players, they are incredibly ambitious once they get to Europe, and they want to keep progressing, keep moving forward.
“As somebody who grew up watching Ronaldinho, he will know that he wants to be playing Champions League football sooner rather than later.
“So yeah, there is going to be some tough conversations to be had when it comes to renewing his contract, and that’s what Victor Orta and Angus Kinnear get paid to sort out.”
TIF Thoughts on Raphinha’s future…
If Raphinha keeps up his form and stats from last season and Leeds can’t keep up with his dreams and projection, then it might be inevitable that he is tempted away by another club that can offer him European football consistently.
With Raphinha arriving with relatively limited top-level experience, £17 million appeared to be somewhat of a risky buy for a team recently promoted from the Championship, however, now seeing that Daniel James has just cost Leeds £25 million, Raphinha’s signing appears to be a stellar piece of business considering the latter has scored more league goals in fewer games than James.