Andrea Radrizzani has hailed Leeds United star Raphinha for choosing not to play for Brazil
Andrea Radrizzani has hailed Leeds United star Raphinha for staying in England and not playing for Brazil.
The 24-year-old has never been capped at senior level by his country, and he received his first call-up to the squad earlier in the summer, but decided to remain in England.
He chose not to go rather than the Whites forcing him to stay, but they could still be punished by FIFA for Raphinha failing to report for Brazil duty [The Athletic].
Speaking to the BBC, Radrizzani said: “We invited him to make a decision, and he decided no.
“He showed great respect for his club and the Premier League in giving up this opportunity to play for his country for the first time.”
Leeds don’t deserve to be punished if the player said no.
Most Premier League teams agreed not to send their players to countries on the red travel Covid list because of the following quarantine period.
However, it appears as if Raphinha voluntarily told Leeds that he would miss this set of international fixtures, so why should he and the club be punished by FIFA forcing him to miss games?
It makes absolutely no sense, and we hope that some common sense will prevail and the Whites will be allowed to play Raphinha against Liverpool on Sunday.
The situation has not been helped by the lack of clear communication from the relevant authorities involved in this.
We are just four days away from the Reds game at Elland Road, and we still don’t know if Raphinha will be available for Leeds or not.
Hopefully, he will be because it seems as if he chose to miss this international break, and for that, he deserves great credit and shouldn’t be punished.
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