Bruno Fernandes suggest Raphinha will miss Leeds game v Manchester United
Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes has suggested that Leeds United winger Raphinha will miss out on Sunday afternoon.
The attackers played together at Sporting Lisbon and formed a great friendship, meaning this suggestion can be classed as very reliable.
The Brazilian missed the 1-1 draw against Liverpool last night after suffering a dead leg in the miraculous win over Manchester City last week.
Speaking to the official Red Devils website, Fernandes singled out the Whites star and their friendship ahead of the huge clash.
“About Raphinha, unluckily for Leeds, I think maybe he will still be injured at the time,” he said
“I hope not. I hope I can play against him but, if I have to put him down in the game, I will put him down. The relationships stay out of the game, he knows that.
“He is one of the players who knows me better than anyone. He knows the relationship, but even in the training ground, he knows it never counts when we play against each other. If we have to fight in the game, we’ll fight for everything and then go home.”
Gutting.
Phil Hay did suggest that Raphinha would have a “decent chance” of returning against our fierce rivals this weekend, but that appears to have been an assumption.
Fernandes will always be in close contact with the winger and will have been asking about his chances of starting against him next weekend.
We all know that it would be Raphinha having a huge say on this game, especially given the drop in form of the Portuguese playmaker in recent weeks.
The Whites have the huge chance to go unbeaten three games in a row against City, United and Liverpool; that surely may not have happened before in the Premier League.
We have everything crossed that Raphinha will be back.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay drops a major fitness update on the Whites squad for the Manchester United clash on Sunday