Having suffered two career threatening injuries in two years , Barcelona's Rafinha has not been the same as he is yet to play this season despite recovering fully from the knee injury suffered in April. Although another reason is the offensive strength of Barcelona under Ernesto Valverde who has made the Catalunya side more defensively solid.
With his recent struggles it quite easy to forget that the winger was named La Liga's Breakthrough Player of the Season back in 2014 having scored four goals in 32 games for the side while on loan . With a blistering pace and ability to shoot from any angle , Rafinha has never been a regular at Barcelona partly due to the high profile offensive players ahead of him at the time (Neymar , Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi). The younger brother of Thiago Alcantara and son of former Brazil international Mazinho who won the FIFA World Cup in 1994; it is difficult to completely feel his best years are past him even with his record injuries . To buttress further, the attacker was impressive last season scoring six goals in 18 league games despite coming off the bench most of the time . With an ability to play in any attacking position , the winger only needs game time at a club who will give him the platform and patience to get back to his best .
Even with the array of stars that have played for Barcelona in the past
four years , it is not impressive that the Brazilian has made 48 league appearances scoring eight times for Barcelona despite his two career injuries that put him out of the game for kids more than 18 months in total . With Inter all but confirmed to be his next destination for a loan and permanent signing of around €17m, the winger should be praised for seeking another challenge having discovered his present predicament at Barcelona might only get worse with the recent signing of Philipe Coutinho for £142m from Liverpool days ago. At Inter he is joining a family club at the same time a side gradually returning to its glory days (nine points behind league leaders Napoli) under Luciano Spalletti. The Italian is a decent tactician and will relish having Ivan Perisic and Rafinha attacking on the side while Mauro Icardi operates from the middle to tear down stubborn defences. With João Mario struggling for consistency, Inter have surely made a bargain signing (Rafinha) provided he returns to form . Quick, decent crosser, humble coupled with his ability to play in tight spaces, Inter appear to have made of the best transfers in Seria A this winter. At 24, Rafinha is already a Champion having won La Liga, Champions League and then the Olympics despite being only 24. The winger still has so many years ahead of him and must surely look ahead rather than look back to the past.
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