How good is Raphinha

[NottinghamWhite]

What an amazing player we have on our hands. Puts in a real shift every game in attack, midfield & defensively. Every time he’s on the ball I’m excited. He reminds me of Fabian Delph in his youth but I have to remember Fab was performing against League One opponents & Raphinha is doing it in The Premiership. To me he’s getting better each game & growing in confidence all the time. I love the way he & Bamford play off each other our very own Kane & Son. He has the potential to be a real cult hero at the club, if he isn’t already. I have to admit when we signed him my reaction was who ?

[Leicester White]

Most exciting player since when Kewell broke on the English top flight scene. Prior to that Cantona, IMO. Early days, but he seems to kill both those players on attitude and work rate too.

[Selby White]

High skill level but just to play devils advocate he's not the finished article yet.

He can clearly skin a player with brilliance but in the same breath he gives the ball away sometimes which often allows the opponents to counter. It happened a few times last night but we got away with it.
I'm sure its something (ball retention) he along with the coaching staff will be working on.

He's very good now but will get better

[yorkfan]

NW's points, above, sum it up for me too.

He's very quick, and with good close ball control, and seems to have a great eye for the killer pass.

The little flicks and tricks are something the fans love to watch, and the effort he puts in to get up and down the pitch from attack and back into defence has already endeared him to all of us.

I've noticed that if he does lose possession, he instantly chases back to try and recover the ball.

So, a hugely skilful player who works his socks off for the team ........ legend in the making.

[NottinghamWhite]

He can clearly skin a player with brilliance

https://twitter.com/jermainebecks83/sta ... 63873?s=21

[zigzag]

Seems to have a slightly angry arrogance to opponenets about him and a swagger which is increasing as he grows into the team and league

Bags of skill but he also has a work ethic and is a good team player too, factors which can sometimes be absent for those with an abundance of skill

He does have one fault in that he is reluctant to use his right foot

[DominanceUK]

Take him out of this Leeds side and we will struggle on the attacking front. Says enough for me! Spot on NW with your points. I can't wait to watch him at ER and when we do, and we're chanting his name I think we might see some more from him. He's only going to get better. I aren't Orta's biggest fan by any means but I applaud him with the signing of Rafa, arguably the PL's best signing this season.

[Leonickroberts]

He can clearly skin a player with brilliance

https://twitter.com/jermainebecks83/sta ... 63873?s=21

I just logged on here to see if anyone was talking about this majestic bit of skill - very glad to see there's a whole thread dedicated to Raphinha NW.

Reasons to love him:

- His technique is magnificent. Whether he's picking up the ball on the move, on the turn, out of the air, whatever, he rarely looks like he's going to lose it.
- Workrate. I was wondering in the first couple of games (perhaps with a bit of inadvertent stereotyping in mind) whether he'd be mercurial - great going forward, less good at tracking back, but his commitment to run is phenomenal and he's put in more than a few important tackles and slowed down many a winger in the past few games with his positioning.
- Finishing. Has the eye to spot a shooting opportunity and the skill to execute it time and time again.
- Teamwork. He seems to really get that while he's brilliant on his own, to be properly good he needs to contribute to the team performance. His grins when anyone scores (often from his assists) are great to see.
- Personality. Frankly, he just seems a bit of a b*****d, which I love. Comparisons to Ronaldinho might be apposite in terms of ability, but whereas Ron was all about having fun at all costs, Raphinha just looks like he takes football properly seriously, and you wouldn't mess with him.

Phil Hay was talking about how Orta or Radrizzani mentioned that they're following a Leicester-style model of buying cheap, selling expensive, but always having an immediate replacement for outgoing players. I have no doubt that Raphinha will be the subject of much interest this summer, and would expect the club to consider offers over the £50m mark but nothing less. A top 10-12 finish, another year of Bielsa, and some excitement around new marquee signings in the summer (CM in particular) and I reckon he'll be keen to stay.

[ChilwellWhite]

He can clearly skin a player with brilliance

https://twitter.com/jermainebecks83/sta ... 63873?s=21

Should that have been a penalty ?

[ChilwellWhite]

I’m already signed up to his fan club. Can’t wait to see him playing alongside Rodrigo, Llorente and Koch but who’ll make way for the returning trio ? Love his work ethic and general ability on the ball, think there will be some serious big money bids in for him in the summer, sadly. I intent to enjoy watching him in a Leeds shirt whilst I can. He’s odds on favourite to with the MOTM league total in my opinion.