ESPN pundit Jan Aage Fjortoft has given his thoughts on the future of Leeds United winger Raphinha following recent transfer claims.
The 25-year-old has been one of the few bright sparks for Leeds in the Premier League this season. The team have only managed to bag three wins in the league, but Raphinha has been playing above and beyond the rest of his teammates, scoring eight goals so far this season – with his closest competitors only managing to bag two.
This form, as well as last year’s, in which he bagged six goals and nine assists in all competitions, has gained the attention of a number of big clubs who are looking to bring him on board, with journalist Nicolo Schira claiming that German side Bayern Munich are ‘interested’ in him.
Speaking on ESPN FC Extra Time when responding to a question about whether or not Bayern would sign the Brazilian, Fjortoft broke down how the Bavarians have acted in the past when it came to the January window, and claimed that he couldn’t rule out the possibility of them grabbing Raphinha when the window opens.
He said: “They were talking about €50m, and I see that is everywhere. And with their track record, Bayern Munich have to sell players, they [let] players leave them for free and they say they don’t have a lot of money. I’m not sure that they would [put] all their eggs in one basket.
“They have a good, fairly good track record of buying players in January. They have done that before and they’ve been quite successful – not many teams are in January. But I will go for a 50-50 on that one.”
TIF Thoughts on Jan Aage Fjortoft’s comments about Raphinha at Leeds United…
Will Raphinha be at Leeds next season?
Yes
No
Given how badly Leeds have done so far this season, with Raphinha playing a big part in their few successes by scoring in two of their three league wins, you could make the argument that he is indispensable to this current side as they look to push away from the relegation battle.
So it is imperative that they try to keep hold of him for one more transfer window at least, just so that he can play his part in keeping them in the division.
Raphinha has spoken about his desire to play Champions League football at some point in the future, and his sale could bring Leeds in a pretty penny, so it’s not impossible that he might be sold in the summer.
But for now, all the attention has to go on making sure that he doesn’t leave the club in the coming weeks, because their season could ultimately be hanging in the balance if they did decide to cash in on him and let him go.
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