FC Barcelona had a summer of ups and downs in terms of transfers. Throughout the summer, they were linked with a transfer for Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams but a transfer never materialized due to multiple reasons.
At that point, fans felt like they had missed the opportunity to sign a world-class winger. However, the resurgence of Raphinha this season would make one reconsider the need for Nico Williams. The Brazilian has been one of the best players in Europe this season.
Raphinha’s performances this season make one feel Barcelona eventually made the right call not spending so much money on Nico Williams and rather signing Dani Olmo. The Brazilian has also been appointed one of the captains at the club.
Ahead of their all-important clash against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, Raphinha attended the press conference alongside Hansi Flick and was asked about a particular incident that happened back in the summer.
The 27-year-old was quizzed about how he felt when he saw fans photoshop the #11 jersey of Barcelona with Nico Williams’ name on it and Raphinha was quite candid in his response. As quoted by Fabrizio Romano, here is what he had to say:
“I saw people posting my 11-number shirt with Nico Williams’ name on social media… that was very disrespectful. It was a joke, but in a very bad taste. We have to respect players who are here.”
Raphinha is currently adored by the Blaugrana fanbase that wasn’t always the case until the start of this season. For much of his time at the club, the Brazilian has struggled to endear himself to the Barcelona fans due to various reasons.
Despite this, as Raphinha says, what happened in social media was taking it too far. With Raphinha still a Barcelona player, some respect must have been shown and it surely must have hurt the Brazilian when he had a look at it.
Right now, the situation is totally different though and no Barcelona fan will want Raphinha to leave the club at any cost. It was a joke in poor taste and one can only hope such incidents don’t transpire in the future.
