Ben Dinnery: Doubt over Raphinha starting v Burnley
Injury expert Ben Dinnery has said that Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United press conference has “cast a doubt over Raphinha starting on Saturday having missed close to a month.”
Bielsa said that Raphinha was fit but added a proviso when he said, “To be ready sportingly, is not only to be healthy & good physical performance but to transform this into football performance. There’s the difficulty for the practice & transform that onto the field. It’s not the same for a player who’s been out for a long time.”
Dinnery, who reports on injury problems for Sky and The Athletic, among others, said another week of training would help Raphinha after he made a came appearance against Spurs last week.
He said there should be no such concerns over Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper.
Dinnery could have a point
Raphinha didn’t start last week despite being fit and came on for a successful 32-minute cameo that saw him set-up Rodrigo for Leeds’ third goal.
Leeds coped fine without him and there’s no real imperative for Bielsa to risk players unnecessarily.
However, Raphinha seemed sharp and only missed three games.
There are no more Under-23s games for him to play so he’s only going to get match fitness by playing, but that could still see him start from the bench.
With Helder Costa out for the rest of the season, there’s no doubt that Leeds would be stronger with him in.
But he can definitely still make an impact from the bench. Better that, than to risk him picking up another injury and depriving Leeds fans of missing out on the opportunity to see him play in person for the first time in the final game of the season against West Brom.
We think he’s 60/40 to start but that 40% means Dinnery is right to say there’s a doubt over him making the XI.
In other Leeds United news, Report: Leeds close in on big-money attacker move – deal would bust club record