Leeds United winger Raphinha has been consistently linked with a Liverpool switch ever since he started properly doing the business for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
The flyer is incredibly skilful and is slowly but surely adding consistent end-product to his game.
He is managed by former Chelsea and Barcelona star Deco, whose advice will play a big part in where Raphinha ends up, according to the 24-year-old himself.
“Deco obviously knows the way to succeed in England, and in football overall,” Raphinha told FourFourTwo.
“But he tells me that I have to follow my own path and fight for my own dreams. That’s a nice piece of advice, actually.
“He always says I need to understand myself, assess my feelings and realise what I want to achieve in my career.
“The decision to leave Rennes and come over to England was mine, but when Deco told me that I’d fit well in the Premier League, I took it into consideration.
“When a guy like Deco says that, I obviously pay attention. He said that he was sure about my success in English football, which was an important factor in me signing for Leeds.”
We like Raphinha a lot as a footballer. We’re just worried about his potential transfer fee, given the fact Leeds are financially well off and there is always a huge premium on Premier League players with years left on their contracts…
There is surely better value to be found on the continent, but Raphinha has had a year to adapt to English football – and we saw with the success of Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota that this is pretty beneficial before heading to Liverpool.
With Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri likely set for an exit, Raphinha would be a very nice replacement as a bench option. He’s best on the right, meaning Mo Salah could play centrally, where we think the Egyptian would maybe prefer given it would give him the outright job of putting the ball into the net.
forget it he’s ours
Why on earth go to any club to play second fiddle and warm a bench? You reds do talk some hogwash. Raphina is doing a great job at Leeds. He has been made welcome and is respected. And he belongs to a club with arguably one of the top three managers in the world, a club that is on the rise and a club that plays entertaining football. If all he is interested in is a shed load of money then he will go and Leeds would be better off without that type of player. That is not what they are about. But I think Raphina has more to him than that. If he has ambition. loyalty and wants to play enjoyable, exciting football then he is already at the right place
Raphinha wouldn’t be 2nd fiddle for long. A shake up of the front three may well be in the cards in addition to other names (the rumor mill is regularly churning out) that need to move to clear salary load.