Called upon by Tite for the World Cup, Raphinha was given a chance to prove his Barcelona doubters wrong, having struggled to fully convince his new club’s fanbase since his move from Leeds United in the summer.
The forward was signed by the La Liga side for €58m in a rather long-winded saga after spending two years at Elland Road, but despite the hype surrounding it, his performances haven’t been up to scratch.
Xavi has preferred Ousmane Dembélé for most of the season, leading Raphinha to start just six league games from a possible 14, during which he has scored two goals and assisted another two.
Tite still showed belief in the player, who started four of Brazil’s five games at the World Cup, but failed to impact any of them, leading to his country being beaten by Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals.
This means he will now return to Barcelona, where he is now expected to show just why the La Liga giants paid €58m for his services.
Sport cover his situation on Monday, and explain that while he needs a bit of time to overcome the disappointment of being knocked out of the World Cup, he can also ‘take advantage of the scenario at Barcelona’, where he and his teammate have an ‘obligation to win important titles from now on’.
Sport make it clear it is his ‘moment of truth’ in his career, slapping that in their headline, but he must ‘beat Ousmane Dembélé’ to the starting role, which might be tough to do.
The pressure is on for the former Leeds man.
