Raphinha has signed a one-year contract extension at Barcelona to extend his terms through to 2028.
The 28-year-old’s contract had been due to expire in 2027 but he has committed his future to the club for a further year after playing an important role in Barcelona’s 2024-25 treble-winning campaign.
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Raphinha has provided 34 goals and 24 assists across 56 appearances in all competitions this season as Barca won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana.
The Brazil international moved to the club from Leeds United in the summer of 2022 in a deal worth £55million.
Raphinha struggled for regular minutes last season, starting just 17 times in La Liga, and in May said he felt former head coach Xavi “did not trust” him. He previously admitted he had considered leaving Barcelona on multiple occasions — including as early as his first season at the club — while he weighed up the possibility of moving to the Saudi Pro League last summer.
However, the forward has proved a crucial player under head coach Hansi Flick this season and has emerged as a leading candidate for the Ballon d’Or.
“He always plays at high intensity,” Flick told a press conference following Raphinha’s Champions League hat-trick against Bayern Munich in October. “I have never had a player like him.”
Raphinha’s extension follows Wednesday’s announcement that Flick had signed a two-year extension through to 2027 after a successful debut season.
Analysis from The Athletic’s Jack Lang and Thom Harris
Tactical tweaks have played a big part in Raphinha’s transformation.
In his first season at the Camp Nou, he played on the right wing. While this is his preferred position, he found the going tough. For his previous clubs, he was the king of wide-open spaces, making hay on the counter-attack; for Barcelona, who usually play against deep defences, the job involved more patience, more intricacy. The emergence of Lamine Yamal, a wriggly lock-picker, pushed Raphinha to the left, where he felt less comfortable.
Although still nominally the left-sided attacker under Hansi Flick, Raphinha now has more of a hybrid role. He doesn’t stay wide and doesn’t run with the ball as much as before. Instead, he moves inside to take part in the build-up and then makes darting runs beyond Robert Lewandowski. This creates space for team-mates: opponents are drawn away from Yamal on the left, while Lewandowski is able to work in the little pockets of space that appear around the edge of the penalty box. It also brings Raphinha into more dangerous shooting positions.
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Raphinha has also spoken about the confidence Flick has given him and about his personal touch: when Brazil were knocked out of the Copa America last summer, it was the German who called him, telling him not to make any decisions about his future before reporting for pre-season training.
At Barca, a club with a rich history of Brazilian forward talent, Raphinha has surpassed compatriots Ronaldo and Romario for total goal contributions for the club. His starting position as an underdog makes his current status at Barcelona all the more impressive.
(Photo: Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)
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