Who Is Raphinha?
Leeds United purchased Raphinha in the summer of 2019 from French club Rennes, with the attacker having previously played for Sporting CP and Vitória de Guimarães.
Since arriving at Elland Road, the Brazilian has gone from strength to strength and is now regarded as one of the Premier League’s best attackers while playing a vital part in Leeds United’s survival push this season.
Like many Brazilians, Raphinha moved to Europe at a young age, first starting out in Portugal — a popular destination amongst young Brazilians.
Now, at the age of 25, Raphinha is primed for a big move to one of Europe’s elite clubs with Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Liverpool all being heavily linked with him.
Many would argue these three clubs are the best three in the world, so what is it about Raphinha that is attracting some of the world’s best?
This tactical analysis and scout report aim to unpick the reasons why these clubs are interested in signing Raphinha.
Raphinha Position
Raphinha currently plays wide right for Leeds, despite being a left-footed player which makes him an inverted winger.
This is a common tactic amongst wingers or inside forwards in the modern game and Raphinha is another perfect example of the benefits of an inverted winger.
From his heat map below, we can see that Raphinha really likes to keep his width hugging that right touchline.
This then allows him to cut inside onto his left foot but also, he does have the ability to carry the ball down the touchline.
This wide right position is part of the Bielsa system with him wanting to stretch the pitch as wide as possible in possession to create more space.
This type of heat map may give a bit of a clue as to why Manchester City and Liverpool are interested in Raphinha because they both use an underlapping right-back in possession and to have someone like Raphinha who can keep his width effectively may be one of the contributing factors to the success of this underlap from right-back.
Raphinha Player Profile & Data
In the modern game, data is a crucial aspect of evaluating a footballer.
Looking at Raphinha is no different and we must look at some of the key metrics which may have caught the eye of clubs mentioned before who are pursuing his signature.
The data includes the top 55 creators and attackers in the Premier League.
Firstly, let’s look at goals and assists in the Premier League this season.
Raphinha has scored seven goals and recorded one assist.
These are decent metrics considering that Leeds has really struggled this season.
Raphinha is above average in terms of goals but below average in terms of assists.
However, goals and assists can be heavily affected by luck, so we need to look at expected goals and assists to see the value of their chances and the value of chances they are creating.
With regards to expected goals and assists, Raphinha is above average in both with an xG of 5.5 and an xA of 3.7.
This tells us that Raphinha is scoring more than he should but isn’t registering the assists his chances created deserve.
So, in the long run, based on his current performance, you may see Raphinha’s goals slow down a tad but he may compensate with more assists.
Another important metric when assessing attackers is their passing ability — something Raphinha ranks well in.
For this graph, we used key passes, which are defined as ‘a pass which immediately creates a goal-scoring chance for a teammate’ and smart passes which are: ‘a creative pass which attempts to break the opposition defensive line’.
Raphinha is just below average in key passes but is well above average in smart passes — only bettered by Bruno Fernandes.
These metrics should hopefully indicate that Raphinha is very effective in the final third when it comes to goals and creating goals.
We must also contextualise that Leeds have struggled this season and been plagued by injuries, including some to key players like Patrick Bamford.
This will potentially impact Raphinha’s metrics and if he was put with better players, we could see his attacking improve significantly.
Raphinha Dribbling ability
Like so many Brazilian attackers, Raphinha demonstrates brilliant dribbling quality.
The role Raphinha plays on the wide right often leads to him being in 1v1 dribbling situations and making the most of these duels is one of the key facets of the attacker’s game.
Raphinha is extremely fast and has a great burst of speed to get away from defenders, but he also shows great touch and finesse when dribbling the ball, using small touches to keep the ball close and allowing him to take it away from a defender in an instant.
This example comes from a recent game against West Ham and Raphinha has just received the ball on the wide right.
As you can see from the image, by keeping his width, Raphinha has stretched the back four and in this example, Declan Rice does a good job of filling in.
In other games, this creates big spaces for Leeds to exploit with midfield runs and underlapping fullbacks.
Here, Raphinha is 1v1 with Aaron Cresswell, an accomplished Premier League full-back.
He has two options — go towards the byline or come infield.
Raphinha decides to do a bit of both, carrying the ball towards the byline but also towards the box.
Cresswell has now closed the space between him and Raphinha as he looks to engage the Brazilian.
Raphinha looks as if he is going towards the byline and, as Cresswell goes to step across him, he quickly knocks the ball inside him and attacks the space highlighted in the box. A great example of the importance of close control, as it allowed him to knock it inside Cresswell.
When in the highlighted space, Raphinha plays a good pass into Shackleton who fails to make anything of the ball.
You can’t help but feel that if this had fallen to a player at Liverpool or Bayern Munich, something more would have come from it.
As established earlier, Raphinha finds himself in 1v1 situations regularly — in fact, the most in the Premier League.
Another example of Raphinha’s dribbling ability comes against Arsenal, where a long ball has been played forward by Leeds, resulting in Kieran Tierney and Raphinha both chasing the long ball, as shown below.
As Raphinha is lightning fast, he manages to get to the ball before Tierney.
Raphinha will look to slow the play down and stand Tierney up, which then allows him to increase control of the situation.
Again, as we saw earlier, Raphinha has two options — come infield towards his left foot or go to his right.
As you can see from the image, the obvious space is to Raphinha’s right, as this is where Tierney is trying to show him.
This is probably a conscious effort by the Scotsman to keep Raphinha away from his preferred left foot.
Now Raphinha has progressed the ball to the edge of the box and is still in his 1v1 with Tierney, he wants to come inside onto his left foot to get a shot off.
However, Tierney is doing a good job of shutting this space off, so Raphinha uses a bit of Brazilian flair and fakes an in-to-out style motion, which makes Tierney shift to his left, leaving Raphinha with space to exploit.
Hopefully, the next image makes this become apparent.
Raphinha manages to drive in the space before beating the trailing defender, Ben White, and then shooting.
Raphinha drags his shot just wide of the post but this was still a brilliant piece of individual skill.
Both the following examples should demonstrate Raphinha’s ability in 1v1 situations, something he finds himself in regularly but also something in which he excels.
Raphinha has great speed but also great skill to evade and lose defenders with ease — a strength within his game that will be transferable in a potential move.
Raphinha Quality in the final third
In order to fully analyse Raphinha and get to the reasons why one of Europe’s biggest clubs may be ready to sign the Brazilian, we must look at his quality in the final third.
The above section on Raphinha’s dribbling demonstrates a level of quality in the final third but he can’t always dribble and we must address other aspects of his game.
One way in which Raphinha manages to produce in the final third is through his passing.
This has already been shown in this analysis with the pass he made to Shackleton for the first examples.
Raphinha also effectively manages to release midfield runs into the box, especially when they attack the space created by him keeping his width.
A good way of demonstrating Raphinha’s passing ability comes in a game against Brentford at Elland Road.
As you can see from the image below, Raphinha has, again, received the ball in the wide right position against the touchline.
Brentford are defending with their usual back 5 and maintaining a defensive line on the edge of the box.
Rico Henry has done a good job of limiting the space and with a covering midfielder doubling up on Raphinha, he looks for a potential pass.
This pass emerges with Dan James looking to make a run towards the byline.
Raphinha, with his left foot, plays a clever pass into the space for James to attack.
The pass is played with great precision and put the ball in a brilliant area for Leeds to get a last-minute equaliser.
However, James overhits the cross.
Again, we must ask ourselves if that pass is made to a Bayern Munich or Manchester City player, would the outcome be different?
Another way Raphinha delivers quality in the final third is through his crossing.
The way Raphinha manages to cross the ball is usually by cutting back inside onto his left foot and whipping the ball in.
Due to Raphinha’s dribbling ability, defenders often give him space and avoid getting too tight to prevent fouling him or allowing him to beat them too easily.
This then allows Raphinha time to cross the ball.
The following example is from the game away at Chelsea earlier on in the season.
In the passage of play, the ball has come out to Raphinha again on the wide right while Marcos Alonso has gone down with a knock, meaning that Timo Werner has gone out to deal with Raphinha.
Raphinha does a good job of losing Werner by looking to go towards the byline but then switching infield quickly.
Once he beats Werner, Raphinha sets himself up to deliver the cross.
With Chelsea using their back three, the box is crowded and making sure to pick out your own man is key.
He manages to find Junior Firpo with the cross however the full-back probably wasn’t the man needed to attack the header and he mistimes it, squandering a chance for Leeds.
Both these examples should demonstrate Raphinha’s different methods of producing quality in the final third and this will be translatable to any team he plays for.
Raphinha Defensive contribution
The days of attackers attacking and defenders defending are gone, and all over the pitch, players must contribute to all phases of the game.
So, assessing Raphinha’s defensive contribution is important.
As you can see from the graph below, Raphinha is a very active defender out of possession.
This will be influenced by Bielsa and style of play, but this active defending will also be of interest to the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.
Guardiola has been very public regarding his admiration of Bielsa and his style of play, so being coached by Bielsa could help a player quickly transition into Guardiola’s team.
Raphinha ranks well above average in defensive duels per 90 but also successful defensive duels per 90.
This will benefit all the clubs mentioned that are interested in signing Raphinha as they all adopt strong pressing and counter-pressing systems in their play.
The second graph shows PAdj interceptions and PAdj slide tackles.
PAdj stands for possession adjusted, which means the metric is adjusted as if the game is played on a 50/50 possession.
Normal interception and tackle metrics favour players who play in a defensive side where the opposition dominates possession and allows more chance for interceptions.
This removes that bias and allows for a more accurate evaluation of players.
In both these metrics, Raphinha is again above average and highly effective out of possession amongst attackers.
Final thoughts
This tactical analysis has hopefully given insight into why the likes of Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester City are interested in the Brazilian.
Several factors have been discussed in this analysis but in my opinion, the overarching factors are tactical readiness and potential.
Raphinha is very active out of possession, which will be music to the ears of Julian Nagelsmann and Jürgen Klopp, who are big advocates of the counter-press and high pressing.
His style of play, tendency to keep his width and dribbling qualities should suit the prospective clubs in possession, allowing them to stretch the pitch and utilise underlapping full-backs or midfield runners.
All this combined should make Raphinha a great addition to these clubs and with a bit of development, he could turn into one of the best attackers in the world.
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