Over the summer, plenty of people put little stock into the arrival of Rafinha at Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazil international failed to find a place with FC Barcelona and went out on two different loan stints where the clubs declined to make his stay a permanent one.
Nonetheless, the 27-year-old is now in Paris, where manager Thomas Tuchel believes in the player, and it seems as though his belief in Rafinha is starting to pay off.
Against Montpellier HSC, Rafinha was arguably the capital club’s best player for those 90 minutes, according to the statistics provided by SofaScore. The former Barcelona midfielder played 90 minutes, had 115 touches where he assisted on one goal along with having two key passes. Also, Rafinha won 13 of 17 ground duels and completed 92-percent of his passes.
In his postgame interview with the media, Tuchel had a glowing review discussing Rafinha’s performance against Montpellier.
“I like the guy. I have known Rafinha for many years. I observed it with Barcelona B and FC Barcelona,” Tuchel said. “He’s an extraordinary guy, with a lot of intelligence, super humble, pleasant, always attentive. It shows its quality. He had a good match in Manchester. He’s having an amazing new game, and I’m very happy for him.”
Aside from Marco Verratti, who can often be injured, no player has a stranglehold on a spot in the midfield. If Rafinha continues this form, expect Tuchel to rely on him as the season progresses.
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