Raphinha has been linked with a move to Leeds United
According to BBC, Premier League newcomers Leeds United have signed Brazilian winger Raphinha from French club Rennes for a fee believed to be £17m plus add-ons. He is Leeds’ 13th arrival of the summer.
Raphinha completed his development at Brazilian club Avai before completing a move to Europe with Portuguese outfit Vitoria Guimaraes. He initially impressed for the club’s reserve team in the second-tier before establishing himself as a first-team regular in the Primeira Liga during the 2016-17 campaign.
The 23-year-old bagged 22 goals and 13 assists in 84 appearances for Vitoria in all competitions and followed it up with a productive spell at Sporting Lisbon before joining Rennes in the summer of 2019. Raphinha established himself as a key component of the French club’s attack, accumulating an impressive tally of 8 goals and 7 assists in 36 appearances.
Leeds United have Manchester City loanee Jack Harrison and Helder Costa as their first-choice wide attacking duo. Both players have made a positive start to life in the Premier League this season, but it is worth pointing out that the Whites don’t have much depth down the flanks beyond their regular starters.
Stuart Dallas and Ezgjan Alioski are both essentially wingers by trade but have largely been utilised as left-backs by Bielsa in recent times. Ian Poveda remains an exciting prospect but the youngster lacks adequate senior experience under his belt.
Raphinha, to that end, certainly ticks the box to come through the door as a quality addition to Leeds’ attack. The left-footed Brazilian boasts the versatility to play out wide on either flank and would therefore offer Bielsa with more cover on both flanks.
The 23-year-old’s potential arrival at Elland Road would also reduce the workload on the likes of Harrison and Costa, considering the rigours of a 38-game season in the PL coupled with the challenge of participating in the domestic cup competitions.
As evident from his heat map in Ligue 1 last season, Raphinha not only contributes a lot with his creativity and goalscoring prowess but he also has the work-rate and the awareness to track back and help out his defence. That should make him a good fit for Bielsa’s dynamic pressing philosophy that necessitates the wingers to move up and down the pitch constantly.
Raphinha boasts a promising track record of goals and assists in his career and still has his best years ahead of him at 23. This makes him worthy of a significant outlay for Leeds United in the market. He looks more than capable of ensuring healthy competition for places in Bielsa’s attack and could very well be an excellent long-term addition to the ranks at Elland Road.