Raphinha did not take long to seal his status as a key player at Leeds United. Arriving at Elland Road just as the transfer window was drawing to a close, the Brazilian immediately took a place in the top 11 players in Marcelo Bielsa. Imported in early October, Raphinha made his debut when The Whites hosted Wolverhampton Wanderers in the fifth week. In the ninth week (vs Arsenal), the 24-year-old winger got his first start and has always played since the start of the match since then.
The player whose full name is Raphael Dias Belloli himself is a player Bielsa has observed for a long time. The director of football for Leeds, Victor Orta, has also been monitoring the player since joining the Brazilian youth competition. Orta and Bielsa agreed immediately after the player’s agent, Deco, informed him that Raphinha was available on the transfer market.
“He is the player we talked about earlier with Marcelo. I remember when we started quarantine we talked about a lot of names. He [Bielsa] has a lot of information on France which started from his career there, “Orta was quoted as saying by the Yorkshire Evening Post. Leeds did not take long to complete the transfer of Raphinha. This Yorkshire-based club redeemed the player’s services at a fee of 17 million pounds, plus an additional fee of approximately six million. If you look at the contribution now, the cost is quite cheap for a promotion team like Leeds.
Raphinha soon became a crowd favorite on Elland Road. The former Sporting CP winger played aggressively with stunning spontaneous actions. Raphinha displayed technique and ingenuity that made it seem like she was playing for the sake of the show. He is a Brazilian with natural talent. Born in Porto Alegre, a city in southeastern Brazil, Raphinha grew up to love football like any other Brazilian child. He admired Ronaldinho, the local hero of Porto Alegre who traveled as a legendary footballer.
Raphinha’s own football career did not go smoothly at first. As a teenager, this 1996-born player was rejected by Internacional and Gremio. He then played for a small club called Imbituba FC. His junior career was just elevated when he competed in the second division of the local competition. Avai, a professional club with quite a prestigious academy, was attracted by Raphinha’s talent and recruited him.
“There are two aspects to his game that I really like: his ability in one-on-one situations and his finishing. He always scores a lot of goals. “He’s aggressive and fast, a very, very good player,” Fernandes, Avai’s former youth development coordinator, told The Athletic. In 2016, Raphinha’s participation in the Copa Sao Paulo took the player to the next phase. The Copa Sao Paulo is Brazil’s most prestigious U-20 tournament and attracts many scouts. Avai hopes there is a club that is interested in Raphinha’s talent.
Raphinha caught the attention of an agent at the tournament. He is Deco, a former Barcelona player who created an agency called D20 Sports. Deco collaborated with Raphinha and bridged his move to Portuguese club Vitoria Guimaraes. Raphinha’s career rose rapidly in Portugal. He then moved to Sporting CP, worked hand in hand with Bruno Fernandes to win the 2019/20 Taca de Portugal. In 2019/20, Raphinha moved to Rennes and helped the club qualify for the Champions League for the first time.
In the Premier League, Raphinha also showed a quick, pleasing adaptation of The Whites. Throughout 2020/21, he has appeared in 23 matches in all competitions with 19 starting times. A player whose full name is Raphinha is one of Leeds’s best performers in attack.
Raphinha has scored five goals and assisted five goals for Marcelo Bielsa’s men in the Premier League. Among the Leeds squad, only top scorer Patrick Bamford outperformed Raphinha in terms of direct goal involvement. Bamford has scored 13 goals and five assists so far.
Bielsa used to install him as Leeds right winger. The player is able to adjust to the Bielsa system which demands pressing aggressiveness and proficiency in fast interplay. The presence of Raphinha in the final third is a scourge for the opponent’s back line. The former Rennes player was agile in pressing the ball carrier and closing the bait line.
Raphinha’s presence posed a constant threat to opponents in the final third. He is adept at dribbling the ball and was instrumental in the creation of The Whites’ chances. In the Leeds squad, Raphinha was the player who was most diligent at making shot-creating actions, averaging 4.37 actions per match. The action of shooting fruit is useful for measuring the involvement of the player in the attack sequence. The action in question could be a pass, dribble, or winning a foul that doesn’t require more than one other action to produce a shot.
Raphinha’s expected assists (xA) statistics were also the highest in Leeds. He has made 47 key passes with an xA value of 5.3. Raphinha was also recorded as sending 35 passes into the penalty box, only surpassed by Jack Harrison and Mateusz Klich in the Leeds squad.
In addition, Raphinha Capabel pushed into the penalty box and scored a goal. His long-range shooting ability often creates dangerous opportunities. Raphinha doesn’t hesitate to try long-range shots, as the player’s shots map at Understat shows. Raphinha’s character gave him the opportunity to score spectacular goals. His debut goal for Leeds (vs Everton) on 28 November 2020 for example. At that time, Raphinha scored via a horizontal shot from outside the penalty box.
Last February, Raphinha scored another goal from outside the penalty box. This time through a free kick lodged in the corner of the Southampton goal. Leeds won 3-0 in this match. Throughout February, Raphinha scored two goals and one assist which earned him a nomination for Player of the Month.
The tenacious winger Raphinha fits well into The Whites’ offensive system. Bielsa himself admits that he likes the character of the winger game with the number 18 back. Bielsa said that players like Raphinha will develop naturally. “I honestly thought that I could only inject very little new into his game. “The best way to handle a player with spontaneity like him is to leave him as he is,” said the Argentine coach.
The Premier League still has several gameweeks left and Raphinha still has a chance to show spectacular actions. He was a winger who seemed destined for Leeds United; an effective and entertaining player.
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