Barcelona know they can get their money back for Raphinha if needed
The Brazilian winger has not been able to hit his best form since arriving from Leeds United
Raphinha’s signing for Barcelona happened at the same time as Ousmane Dembele’s renewal was being worked on. They were parallel deals and the Brazilian’s arrival was never doubted regardless of whether the Frenchman stayed or not. Raphinha was the highest investment made last summer in terms of transfer cost, and the club had faith in him as a Brazil international who had delivered in the Premier League. It was no experiment and the sports staff were fully on board. However it has turned out that Raphinha is not an undisputed starter at Barca.
The numbers do the talking - he’s played just seven games as a starter in La Liga and three in the Champions League, where he’s always gone off after an hour. His positional similarity to Dembele is affecting him and he’s not in his best form. So far he has not been able to justify his cost. The club hopes he can do so in the second half of the season.
Barca are calm about the situation though. He still has the club’s confidence and they know that if he does leave, in the Premier League he will be welcomed back with open arms. They will have no problem making their money back.
That’s not to say they want to sell him, nor that they will in the summer, but it’s a useful ace up the sleeve that they may have to turn to at some point.
