Sky Sports presenter Joe Thomlinson has been speaking about Raphinha, his future at Leeds United and how much he could be sold for this summer on the Football Daily YouTube channel.
Raphinha has certainly stepped up this season when Leeds have needed him and with other big players such as Patrick Bamford and Kalvin Phillips missing such large chunks of the season, as the winger has netted 10 goals and got three assists in 2021/22 to date.
Should Leeds sell Raphinha this summer?
Yes!
No!
It’s not just the number of goals and assists he’s got, but also the consistency at which he’s performing that has been impressive, with the Brazilian boasting the most shot-creating actions per 90 minutes within the Leeds squad – and that sort of level of performance hasn’t gone unnoticed, with the likes of Barcelona, West Ham United and Bayern Munich linked with a move.
Thomlinson spoke about Raphinha when discussing each Premier League club’s player of the season, and he expects it to take a massive fee for the winger to depart this summer amid the speculation.
He said: “Let’s go to Leeds, another one we can kind of fly through because we’ve all got Raphinha down. I mean, there’s just nobody else really, is there? What is it, 10 goals in the league? I mean, he’s just been exceptional yet again, if he does get a big move this summer, it’s going to be a monster fee.”
TIF Thoughts on Raphinha’s future…
Raphinha’s agent is former Barcelona star Deco, so that might be largely why there has been a lot of talk about Barcelona potentially plotting a move for the winger, and the pull of playing for a club that’s seen countless Brazilian icons turn out for them would be a big one to say no to.
The winger is still under contract at Elland Road until 2024, so there is no need for Leeds to sanction a sale this summer. Instead, keeping Raphinha until after the World Cup later this year – where if he performs well for Brazil, his value could jump up quite a lot – may be the smarter move.
In other news: ‘At the club…’ – Phil Hay hints Leeds star has now reached his ‘ceiling’