Raphinha has left a chasm for Leeds to fill
‘PLAYERS LIKE PHILLIPS ARE EASY TO GET... BUT STARDUST SO RARE’
RAPHINHA’S Elland Road exit has left a black hole in Leeds’ Premier League ambitions for the upcoming season.
That is according to club legend Brian Deane, who reckons that the Brazil star’s move to Barcelona leaves an even greater wound than Kalvin Phillips’ (below) exit to Manchester City.
Raphinha, 25, had been the creative driving force for Leeds before signing for the Catalan giants for £49million last week.
Deane believes that replacing him is a massive task – and one that will dictate whether or not the club can avoid the pressure of another relegation fight.
“Who will they miss more? Raphinha, without a doubt,” said Deane.
“You can have a very pragmatic approach with any squad, but you need a little bit of stardust.
“If you look at what Raphinha did, he’s a game-changer. Kalvin Phillips is a very good, but he’s a holding midfield player.
“Those players are out there – Tottenham have just signed
Yves Bissouma to do the same job for about £25m.
“It’s a lot easier to replace someone who plays in that holding role, and links things between the back four, than somebody who’s going to score a penalty in the last minute in an away game to keep you in the division. I think that’s where the fans are going to want to know what star quality the club are planning to bring in with the money they’ve raised from the sale of both players.
“The hardest thing is finding those bits of stardust up front – the player who gets the fans excited and gets youngsters coming back, game after game, to support the club.
“That’s really not easy and there’s not a lot of time for the club to bring that kind of player in.”
The fact that Raphinha has signed for a club the size of Barcelona is an
indication of the kind of impact he had on this Leeds side after coming to Yorkshire from Rennes for just £17m in
October 2020.
Back then, there were precious few fans allowed in Elland Road.
But since the return of crowds, Raphinha has got supporters off their seats as regularly as any top-flight entertainer.
Now the heat is on boss Jesse Marsch and the Leeds owners to ensure that the hard work to establish the club in the Premier League after a
16-year absence is not wasted.
And after losing two of their standout performers, it already looks like an extensive rebuilding job is required. “One of the main criticisms that
people threw at Marcelo Bielsa was that the squad was too small,” said Deane.
“I believed that was the case as well, because, once you start getting injuries, you want to have the quality to come in.
“If you don’t have that, then you’re going to struggle. I’d also like to see more balance in the squad. They bought a load of wide players, but when the centre-forward Patrick Bamford got injured, they were scrambling around trying to find a replacement within the squad.
“There’s a new man in charge who would have had time to reflect on that. You need good competition up front, you need quality up front. Let’s wait and see what the strategy coming out of the club is.
“I just hope they can consolidate this season.”