Barcelona star Raphinha has confirmed that he was more than confident that he would manage to convince head coach Hansi Flick of his worthiness of a place in his project during the summer.
Wide-man Raphinha, for his part, is of course in the midst of nothing short of a spectacular opening to the new season.
Looking a player reborn, the Brazilian international has made Barcelona’s left wing his own, by way of 10 goals and seven assists in just 14 appearances.
Raphinha, in turn, is now considered one of the first names on the team-sheet of the Blaugrana.
This comes just months on from a summer transfer window which saw the former Leeds United man widely tipped for a departure, to make room for Athletic Club star Nico Williams.
Speaking during an interview with ‘Losimplenovale’, as cited by Diario Sport, this week, the subject of the summer speculation surrounding his name was therefore put to Raphinha himself.
And the 27-year-old went on to provide an insight into the mental toll which the situation took:
“They published that they were going to sell me and you feel like a commodity. They do what they want with us. We have feelings. We have children. Many times we hear one thing and it affects us, we are not cold-blooded. I am hot-headed, sometimes I do things I shouldn’t, but I arrived like this, I am like this, although I have matured. I am more careful, but they won’t do what they want with my head, there is a man behind it.”
From here, Raphinha then admitted, though, that he was always confident of his readiness to prove himself to the incoming Hansi Flick:
“The coach will change, maybe he has a team, maybe you don’t play. I was calm. With a week of work, [I knew] he would fall in love with me. It has always happened to me, even in the national team, with work I have ended up playing.”
Conor Laird – GSFN
