Raphinha is honestly one of the best stories in world football when you really think about it. Guy gets plucked out of obscurity, becomes a hero for a team most people don’t care about in the Premier League in Leeds United, gets courted by Arsenal and Chelsea to make the next step up, and then somehow ends up at one of the biggest clubs ever in Barcelona at a time when they desperately need to win the league in order to avoid going insolvent in the future because they mortgaged their future debt and TV revenue.
And Raphinha ended up repaying Barcelona’s gamble on a winger who could barely get 10 goals and 10 assists in a season for Leeds. He didn’t get 10 goals or even 10 assists in his first season with Barcelona, but he won the league immediately, combining with Robert Lewandowski to give Xavi just enough offense so that the Blaugrana racked up enough 1-0 wins and upset defending double champions Real Madrid in 2022/23.
Since then, Raphinha has exploded under Hansi Flick to become first a hybrid left winger killing teams on the counter across from Lamine Yamal, and after the sale of World Cup hero Ferran Torres to PSG, he is legitimately one of the best strikers in the world to start the 2026/27 season with 12 goals and 3 assists in 7 games to almost already match his 13 goals and 3 assists in 22 matches in the 2025/26 La Liga campaign.
Raphinha is a great player. But he’s not the best
Obviously, Raphinha is having an insane start to the season, and the thing is, you can’t really say it’s a fluke either, because he had 18 goals and 9 assists in 2024/25 when he first broke out under Flick. So he is a great player at baseline for Barcelona when Flick is the coach, and at 29 years old, he is in the prime of his career. And nobody, at this point, questions he is a world class attacker who makes the difference with goals and assists. He is no fluke.
But best in the world? There are people wondering that after seven games to start the season, and there’s a clear fallacy in trying to argue he is the best in the world when he shares the pitch with Lamine Yamal, who may not score as much as Raphinha does but has to do so much more carrying and creating. It’s also a big leap to call someone the best in the world after seven games, particularly when Harry Kane exists and is coming off a season in which he scored 73 goals in a calendar year’s time – a record literally nobody else besides living and breathing GOATs Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have ever hit.
Raphinha is a stellar player. But best in the world after seven games? You can’t possibly call him the best player in the world until he has been THE face of a team, scored like crazy for a full season, and done it against the best of the best in the world. Looking back at his play for Brazil or even his 2025/26 season for Barcelona, seven great games, as promising as they are, don’t suddenly make someone the world’s best after about a year of doing close to nothing. Plus, I mean, c’mon, ever hear of the eye test? You can’t watch both Yamal and Raphinha dribble a football and say Raph is on Lamine’s level.
Purveyor of footy since the 90s. Favor the Premier League and old school Serie A with a touch of Bundesliga. More than a touch. Professional writer for 20 years, covering every sport but now focused on the Premier League and world football. You won’t be able to guess my favorite team.