What a first season it was for Raphinha at Leeds United.
The Rennes attacker took the Premier League by storm after a £17 million move to Elland Road last summer.
Within months, it was clear that Leeds had pulled off an absolute bargain and the 24-year-old wound up with eight goals and 11 assists across all competitions.
And now, the Brazilian winger has seen his form during the 2020-21 campaign rewarded after being called up by his national team for games against Chile, Argentina and Peru in the coming weeks.
Good and bad news
The good news is that the player is getting well-deserved acknowledgement for his blistering ability in the Premier League, but the bad news is that his international duties could conflict with his club responsibilities.
That last game against Peru comes on September 10 in Rio – only two days before Marcelo Bielsa’s side play host to Liverpool.
And some Leeds fans believe that the likelyhood of him missing that match represents a big downside to his involvement for Brazil.
Here’s some supporters are reacting on Twitter:
The Liverpool game, at the moment, is an evening kickoff on a Sunday but even still, Raphinha has a 9,000 kilometre trip straight after the Peru clash on the Friday and his involvement against Jurgen Klopp’s side seems heavily unlikely.
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