Ex-Leeds coach: Raphinha's Barcelona dream grew from admiring Ronaldinho

Alejandro Lorenzo, who oversaw Raphinha's conditioning work at Leeds, says the winger's childhood target was Barcelona — an ambition inspired by Ronaldinho.

Raphinha's emergence as a central figure at Barcelona began with a goal he set long before the transfer ever happened. Alejandro Lorenzo, who handled fitness and rehabilitation work at Leeds United, has told Diario SPORT that the Brazilian had one club in mind throughout his time in Yorkshire. That club was Barcelona, and the pull came from his childhood idol, Ronaldinho.

"I asked him about the Spanish league, and he always told me that his dream was to play for Barca because of Ronaldinho, who was his favourite player," Lorenzo said. The switch finally came in 2022. By that point, what Lorenzo had witnessed at Leeds had already persuaded him that Barcelona were acquiring an exceptional footballer.

One rehabilitation session remains etched in the coach's memory. "It was crazy, something I'd never seen before," he recalled, describing a shooting drill in which Raphinha found the top corner with 19 of his 20 attempts.

The player's physical output was no less striking. Under Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds ranked among the most relentless running sides on the continent, yet Raphinha still separated himself from everyone around him. "We were the team that covered the most metres at high intensity and made the most sprints in Europe because of Bielsa's style, and he did the most by far," Lorenzo said.

Away from the training ground, Lorenzo described a footballer fixated on the smallest advantages. During his Leeds spell, Raphinha had a hyperbaric chamber fitted at home and regularly consulted the club's fitness department about nutrition and recovery. "He doesn't have a fourth gear, he's always in fifth," the coach added.

That relentlessness has become the foundation of Raphinha's game in Spain, where he has grown into one of the leaders of the Barcelona squad. In Lorenzo's view, it also helps explain how head coach Hansi Flick has molded him into a more complete attacker who can operate in any spot along the front line.

Even a dream transfer brought no guarantees, and Lorenzo pointed out that Raphinha had to battle for a place once he arrived. His own confidence in the player never shifted. "I knew he was a player who was going to mark a before and after. He was going to define an era."

Season after season since leaving Elland Road, the forward has kept raising his level, to the point that the version now leading Barcelona's attack bears little resemblance to the one who turned out for Leeds. How he performs this term, and whether his scoring form holds over the months ahead, remains an open question.

Barcelona's next match brings Real Madrid to Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday, October 4, with kickoff at 1:00 PM EDT.