On Sunday, Manchester United will attempt to follow up Wednesday night’s much-needed victory over Brighton with a win at long-time rivals Leeds United.
The Reds are bound to face a hostile atmosphere at Elland Road, their first Premier League visit with fans since 2003, meaning securing a win won’t be easy.
Yet the hosts haven’t enjoyed a great campaign so far and find themselves 15th in the table and at risk of being sucked into a relegation dogfight.
United are, unsurprisingly, favourites to pick up all three points, however, in Raphina, there is one Leeds star that they must be wary of, with the Brazilian capable of causing a creaking backline a host of problems.
Leeds signed Raphinha from Rennes for just £17million at the beginning of last season and he’s since progressed into one of the most dangerous attackers in the Premier League.
For Leeds, he plays predominantly on the right of their attack, despite being left-footed. This means he can dribble at and past defenders before cutting in onto his favoured foot and unleashing shots towards goal.
He’s averaged 6.53 dribbles per 90 this season, with just under half (48 per cent) proving successful. No United players can better those numbers in the Premier League this season.
Raphinha has already bagged eight league goals this season too, that’s four more than any other Leeds player.
Across the division, it’s also actually a return bettered by players almost only playing at top-six sides - Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Raheem Sterling, Heung-min Son, Jamie Vardy and United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Whilst Raphinha carries an ever-present goal threat, he’s also a key creator for Leeds. Although he has only two league assists, his Expected Assist (xA) total is twice that (4.4) and he’s comfortably registered more shot-creating actions (80) than any of his teammates.
Although the immediate task for United will be trying to formulate a plan to stop Raphinha this weekend, beyond that, it’ll be interesting to see if the club actively look to pursue him as a transfer target in the summer.
The Brazilian will have only two years left on his current contract by then, and that’s normally a crucial window in terms of a player signing an extension, or clubs looking to cash in before seeing the individual's value starts to diminish.
It’s unlikely given his talent that he’ll stay at Leeds beyond his current deal, and from a United perspective, it’d be a move for them that would make a lot of sense.
Raphinha has a very high ceiling, is proven in the Premier League and could significantly strengthen the right-side of their attack - traditionally a problem position for United. United officials will therefore be surely paying close attention to the Leeds man as he lines up against them this Sunday.
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