UPDATE: He signed for Barcelona lmaoooo. At a club that also just signed 33-year-old Lewandowski, 6 months after they signed 33-year-old Aubameyang, resigned Ousmane Dembele, and couldn’t keep their club legend, Messi, due to financial reasons went on to sign Raphinha for over £55 million. You can’t help but laugh. How many promises can Xavi make for a forward line that going into next season that has Lewandowski, Aubameyang, Ansu Fati, Memphis, Ferran Torres, Ousmane Dembele, and now Raphinha?
Growing up in elementary school, we all had that school crush that we were madly in love with and we all probably had a moment when the person we had a crush on didn’t feel the same way. Absolutely shitty feeling. You know the only thing worse than that? Still going after the same girl or having feelings for her when she already said she didn’t feel the same way. Nothing short of pathetic at that point. This exact scenario is where Arsenal finds themselves in search of the soon-to-be former Leeds RW, Raphinha. Arsenal were at the middle of June, the leader in the race to sign the Brazilian but Chelsea and Barcelona stepped in and messed everything up.
PLAYER PROFILE : Raphinha, is no doubt an absolutely brilliant player, a prototypical left-footed RW who loves taking on defenders and maneuvering himself to get shots/passes with his left-foot. He’s the type of player who hate to play against as he is always looking to go at defenders, and not the fake always where some players will do feint and then pass the ball back if the defender doesn’t budge. Raphinha LOOKS for it and is successful a decent amount of times. There’s a smoothness with his dribbling and movement which kind of reminds me of Di Maria as they have similar body types and are comfortable left-footed dribblers. They do both pick up different positions as Di Maria is probably the more complete player however Raphinha, I’d say is the more direct player.
This directness I’d say is the main reason why clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal are interested in his services, considering the man played two seasons at Leeds with 25 goals to his name at the club, those are more than decent clubs to be linked to.
Raphinha has an absolute wand of a left foot as well. He loves to hug the touchline on the right flank, and then with a quick bit of acceleration, cut in his right foot and deliver crosses to his attachers:
The flair and directness of Raphinha in a team at Leeds that had Dan James as a starter make it so obvious why Raphinha stood out so well at Leeds. Like no fucking shit the man was going to look like Robben reincarnated, these men gave up goals like a NYC turnstile, and wondered why they were fighting relegation all season long.
SITUATION: In the spring of 2022, when Leeds was fighting off relegation, it was pretty well known that Raphinha would more than likely leave the club whether they survived or not (they survived). The former Champions League winner with Barcelona, Deco is his agent and was putting out rumors of Barcelona and Raphinha being linked for months now. If that wasn’t fishy enough, it is well known now that Raphinha prefers the move to Barcelona over any English club with Leeds asking for £60million and £65m for the right winger. Like only Raphinha posting an Instagram story pleading for Barcelona to sign him would make it more obvious.
Barcelona who are going through their own financial issues (you know, the one where they couldn’t keep Messi, the one where Pique had to take a pay cut, etc.), i.e they are in a shit ton of debt have been in and out of Raphinha depending on what day of the week it is. This waffling from Barcelona caused Arsenal to get in the mix for Raphinha who they have been tracking for some time now. At one point in early June, it seemed like we were the leaders to nab up the talented Brazilian as Barcelona were busy dealing with their own shit.
Then out of fucking nowhere, Chelsea stepped up again as the constant pain in my ass and decided they wanted to ruin my life. This meant they were willing to agree to Leeds demands for Raphinha which Arsenal could not, as well as provide Champions League football to a player that has not experienced that before.
Even though Chelsea thought they had something with Leeds, Raphinha still yearns to play at the Camp Nou, and at this point, it is almost a complete joke with his team for next season still in the air.
KENT’S CONCLUSION: At this point, I just don’t fucking care if Arsenal sign him. I always thought £60 million for a player who only scored 11 goals last year was a bit rich but in this market, it is essentially big teams overspending on players and hoping they work out (Lukaku, Nico Pépé, Sancho etc.). Would I love to have him? Of course I would. But does he take us to the next level? Maybe? Here are the reasons why I don’t care at all anymore about if he comes to Arsenal
- We already have Saka: The man is clearly talented and would improve our team for sure, no questions about it. However, £60 million for a player that plays in Saka’s position isn’t the best use of funds. We also have a Nico Pépé sized transfer fee in the RW position that we still have on our books that we haven’t got rid of yet which makes it a little uncomfortable that we would go head first for another RW.
- He clearly doesn’t want to be here: Which is totally fine. It’s clear that his preference is Barcelona, Chelsea , and then a long look down to Arsenal. Arsenal have been an utter joke for a good part of the last decade compared to Barcelona and Chelsea, why would any player choose Arsenal over the other two if they had any sort of ambition. Those clubs have had way more success as of late and are playing Champions League football next season, no reason for Raphinha to choose Arsenal for him if money is all relatively the same, absolutely none and it doesn’t hurt my feelings at all.
- This situation is all for a Brazilian not named Neymar: Raphinha has every right to take his time on his next club, but for God’s sake, it’s like this guy is the second coming of Neymar. No way is this guy worth the hassle of stringing Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal along for £60 million. Neymar, yes he is worth the hassle for a talent like that. This guy, not even close. At this point, I wouldn’t even want the guy, he clearly rather play at Chelsea or Barcelona. Just take the L and move onto somebody else that hates his club situation enough to come play at Arsenal. 🙂
Video credits: SVMM, NBC, Brazil Scout Premium