da 888： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
da dobrowin： Sport have reported that Barcelona want to renew Rafinha’s contract before sending him off on loan.
What’s the word, then?
Rafinha has spent most of his career at Barcelona. But despite that, he’s never been a really important piece of the Catalan jigsaw because of one simple thing: injuries. Last season, he was out for 217 days, missing out on a total of 41 games.In 2016/17, the situation was fairly similar when a meniscal injury sidelined him for 38 games.
Needless to say, the 26-year-old never truly got the chance to shine and show what he can do as all of that talent was somehow always buried beneath those fitness problems. And now that he has finally strung together a couple of games in the new 2019/20 La Liga season and the summer pre-season, we’ve seen a glimpse of what he can do.
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The only thing, however, that seems to be keeping him at the Camp Nou is his old contract that will expire next year, preventing Barcelona from sending him on loan despite interest from Valencia.
And because of that, the Blaugrana aim to renew his contract so that they can send him along his way to Los Che. Looking at that potential deal, it seems to be a bad move from the Catalans.
A different kind of asset
Looking back at Barcelona’s first two games in La Liga, Rafinha not only looked like the best player on the pitch on so many occasions but he also offered something entirely different to the team.
Sure, Catalans have plenty of talented attacking-minded players but the Brazilian was very much involved in every aspect of their game: he was creating chances left and right, already tallying 2.5 key passes on average so far, three shots per game and 1.5 dribbles. This emphasised how good of a creative outlet he truly is.
But there’s something else about his game that needs to be emphasised. He’s always tracked back, worked hard and dropped deeper to support his teammates. He’s averaged 1.5 tackles per game and maintained a fairly impressive 91.7% passing accuracy.
With the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the squad, both of whom are over 30 already, Barcelona are really short on hard-working attackers who are willing to go both ways.
That new contract seems to be in the plans but is it there for the right reasons? He should definitely be given a proper shot at the Camp Nou this season, rather than spending it with a La Liga rival.
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