DBasia.news – Raphinha, Barcelona winger, managed to give his best performance earlier this year. He proved that Barca was not wrong to recruit him.
Barcelona spent up to €58 million to bring Raphinha from Leeds United last summer. At that time, Barca competed with Arsenal and Chelsea.
However, with the high value, it doesn’t mean that Raphinha will immediately perform well. He had experienced difficulties.
Before the new year, Raphinha was not necessarily the first choice. He also only scored 2 goals and 2 assists in LaLiga. Not surprisingly, there are reports that Barcelona want to lend Raphinha in the winter transfer window.
However, recently Raphinha started to see changes. He appeared impressive after the new year. Most recently, he scored 1 goal and 1 assist when Barcelona met Sevilla in LaLiga.
Now, Raphinha is the LaLiga player who has been involved in the most goals scored in 2023. The Brazilian player scored 4 goals and 4 assists.
Not surprisingly, Xavi paid tribute to Raphinha. Xavi thinks Raphinha is useful for his team.
“Today was the time to be brave. We created many chances against the Seville players’ low guard,” said Xavi, as quoted by Diario AS.
“Now, I think Raphinha stands out even more because he is an extraordinary player,” explained the coach.
The victory over Sevilla made Barcelona stronger at the top of the standings. Now, Barca are eight points ahead of second place, Real Madrid.