€80m Barcelona star emerging as the best South American player this season – Report | OneFootball

Throughout their history, FC Barcelona have had some of the best South American players playing in their ranks, with the likes of Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Rivaldo, and Luis Suarez, being the more influential ones.

This season, they once again have the best footballer from this part of the world in their team, as Raphinha has been performing at a very high level since Hansi Flick’s arrival on the Blaugrana bench.

As SPORT has noted, the Brazilian winger’s numbers this season, 19 goals and 11 assists in 27 games for Barcelona and 3 goals in 4 World Cup qualifiers for Brazil, make him the best player from South America playing anywhere in the world.

His most notable contender would have been Vinicius Junior, who endured another quiet night on Sunday as he saw his team lose the Spanish Super Cup final with a 5-2 scoreline.

This season, he has 13 goals and 10 assists to his name in 24 appearances. Similarly, his teammate, Rodrygo Goes, also has only 7 goals and 4 assists to his name.

In the Premier League, the most prominent South American forwards also have significantly lower numbers than Raphinha. Matheus Cunha of Wolves, another Brazilan forward, has scored 10 goals and provided 4 assists while Brighton’s Joao Pedro ( Brazilan ) has 5 goals and 5 assists to his name.

The Liverpool winger linked with Barcelona, Luis Diaz, has 12 goals and 3 assists this season. His fellow Colombian, Jhon Duran, who is turning out to be one of the revelations of the Premier League this season has 12 goals in 26 appearances with West Ham United.

Similarly, two of the top Argentinian stars playing in Europe also have their numbers significantly lower than the Barcelona star. One of them is Lautaro Martinez, who has scored 8 goals and provided 5 assists for Inter Milan. The other is Julian Alvarez, who has scored 13 goals and provided 2 assists in his first season with Atletico Madrid.

Thus, Raphinha is clearing the best South American forward up to this point of the season, and from how things are going, the €80m-rated Barcelona star is only expected to increase this domination in the coming months.