Leeds United face West Ham United on Monday night and Whites manager Marcelo Bielsa has been discussing the impact of Raphinha since he joined the club.

Bielsa comments on Raphinha

Speaking before the Premier League clash, Bielsa said: "What Raphinha is able to create, we’ve already seen. After, what shows more shine or not is whether he’s able to do it on a regular basis. The set-pieces, he manages them very well.

"Physically, he’s very apt. He can unbalance individually or combine with his team-mates. I can’t think of many more things to add to an attacking player, but the most important thing is how many times those resources are shown in every game."

Raphinha is shining in moments

It is easy to say why Bielsa is discussing the consistency of the £16.2m-valued Raphina as, in his 21 league appearances (including three from the bench), the 24-year-old has picked up five goals and five assists (Transfermarkt), This is a fantastic return for a relatively young player in a new league with a promoted team, but these goals and assists have come in patches and he has sometimes had lean spells on that front. His underlying attacking stats show that he is unlucky not to have more goals, as he has averaged 2.3 shots, 2.1 key passes and 1.7 successful dribbles per game for the Whites (WhoScored), figures which rank him highly among his teammates – he is second for shots and top for key passes and dribbles among Leeds’ squad. These figures show that he can shine in moments, but they need to be converted into more goals if he is to answer his manager's comments about producing on a regular basis. In other news, this Leeds transfer target could be available in the summer!