Laporta Shuts Down Raphinha Exit Talk: 'He's Key for Us'

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has moved to silence speculation surrounding the future of Brazilian winger Raphinha Dias, insisting the club has no intention of selling him this summer. In a recent interview, Laporta acknowledged that Raphinha failed to hit top gear during the decisive stretch of last season — La Liga, Champions League, and Copa del Rey. “It’s a shame he couldn’t show his maximum level at the end of the campaign. I believe our results would have been different with him at his best,” Laporta said. Despite the arrivals of Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi to bolster the attack, Laporta made it clear that Raphinha remains central to the project. “That doesn’t mean we’ll let Raphinha go. He is a decisive, key player for us. We don’t want him to leave,” the president stated. Raphinha is currently recovering from an injury sustained while on duty with the Brazil national team.