Raphinha was Pascal Struijk’s team-mate at Leeds for two seasons and says he knew from their first training session together that he was quality
Leeds’ Pascal Struijk never had any doubts that Raphinha would be a star for Barcelona. Raphinha, 28, faces Borussia Dortmund in Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg and he has bagged 27 goals and 13 assists this season.
The Brazil attacker, who spent two seasons with Leeds, has 11 goals and five assists in his 10 Champions League games and Struijk knew from their first training session in 2020 that he was quality. “I knew for sure that he would be able to play with a top team,” the Dutch centre-half told Mirror Sport.
“You look at his goals and assists, which he did for us as well. When you go to a big team, it’s about how you react when you make a move like that and I always believed in his ability, I had no doubts.
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“My first impression of him was, ‘this guy’s got quality’. Sometimes you have players and you see them on the pitch and you think, he’s got that bit extra. When you see him doing it in the Prem, the talent speaks for itself.
“I always say people pay the ticket price to see a player like that. They want to see that little bit of flare, they want to see that little bit extra and he did that all when he was here. He had work rate, he just had everything and just look at him now.
“He’s doing amazing. What he’s done so far in the season has been great. You can see mentally, he’s strong and he pushes.”
Struijk, 25, is still in touch with Raphinha and has tipped the Samba star to help Barcelona lift some silverware with the Catalan club four points clear at the top of La Liga and in the last eight of the Champions League.
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“I spoke to him recently,” said Struijk. “I said to him ‘well done, great game, you’re having an amazing season’. When you spend time with someone, you grow a bit of a bond. It’s nice to keep in touch with players.
“I don’t want to jinx anything, but with the season he’s having, he can win a lot. I don’t want to say what he can win, but I think he can do a lot for the team.”
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