Will Barcelona sell Raphinha in January?

Barcelona’s lack of effectiveness in front of goal is taking its toll and, in part, explains why the team is far behind Girona and Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. The arrival of Vitor Roque in the upcoming winter transfer window should, in principle, serve to alleviate the goalscoring deficit of Barça’s forwards and, consequently, force them all to step up their game and try to improve their scoring records.

Lewandowski is Barça’s top scorer in LaLiga with 8 goals, followed by Ferran Torres, João Félix and Raphinha, with 3 each. Sergi Roberto, a midfielder with far less minutes in the bag than the three above, has the same number of goals.

Xavi wants more from Raphinha

Of all of them, Lewandowski is the player whose starting place is more than assured so far. Raphinha and João Félix both have Xavi’s confidence but their presence in the starting XI is not as assured as that of the Pole with both Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal are pressing for a place in the side. Given Vitor Roque will now join them, even less so.

Xavi is crying out for more effectiveness and Raphinha is one of the players who he has in mind. He is convinced that he can contribute more goals and be more decisive for the team; his total of 3 goals is very poor. The other day, against Almería, he put an end to a streak of fourteen games without scoring. His last goal had been in the match against Mallorca on September 26, a period of time too long for a first-choice striker at FC Barcelona.

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‘Things always happen with him on the pitch’

Xavi is quite satisfied with the Brazilian’s overall performance. “Things always happen with him on the pitch,” he said last season. In the assists department, there are no complaints. He has 5 assists in LaLiga and four of them have come in a row (Atlético, Girona, Valencia and Almería), but a Barça attacker should be giving much more.

In the Champions League, for example, he has not yet been able to make his scoring debut, although it is true that he missed the matches against Porto and Shakhtar due to injury and in the last match day, in Antwerp, he was on the bench. However, Raphinha’s performances in Europe’s top competition is starting to worry the club: last season he was also unable to score in any of the five matches he played.

Will Barcelona sell Raphinha in January?

The question of whether Barcelona will sell Raphinha has been floating around Montjuïc since the summer, with the Brazilian constantly linked with a move back to the Premier League, where he shone for Leeds. Barcelona need the money, and if an offer came in for the winger, it would be hard to see the Catalan club failing to consider it, given their financial position.

However, big money is not normally splashed out in January, as Premier League clubs generally do the majority of their business in summer. But nowadays, with the deep pockets of the clubs, nobody can say for certain that a bid will not come in for the 27-year-old.