“When you are with him, you see that he is much more than a leader” – Raphinha opens up on playing alongside ‘great footballer’ at Barcelona

Barcelona winger Raphinha has opened up about his experience of playing alongside Robert Lewandowski.

The Catalan giants invested heavily in bolstering their squad over the summer, with both Raphinha and Lewandowski joining the club on big-money deals.

Raphinha was the most expensive signing for the Blaugrana this summer as he made his move to Camp Nou from Leeds United for a fee of €58 million. Lewandowski, on the other hand, made the switch from Bayern Munich in a €45 million deal.

Raphinha has enjoyed a decent start to his Barcelona career while Lewandowski has already shown why he is regarded as one of the finest strikers of the modern era.

The Brazilian international has hailed his new teammate as not only a great player, but also a true leader. Raphinha told La Vanguardia, as quoted by Barca Universal:

“He [Lewandowski] is a great footballer. We all already knew. But when you are with him, you see that he is much more than a leader."

The Polish superstar has found the back of the net eight times this season in just five games across all competitions. Lewandowski also scored his first hat-trick for Barca in their 5-1 win over Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League on September 7.

Raphinha, on the other hand, has scored once and provided one assist in four outings for Xavi Hernandez's side.

Barcelona are second in the La Liga table after four games, with three wins and one draw. They are two points behind rivals Real Madrid and will take on Cadiz away from home on Saturday (September 10).

---

Barcelona have done well to come back from a difficult period

Barcelona were one of the most active clubs during the summer transfer window this time out despite uncertainty about the club's financial situation.

Their club's struggles have been well documented, and their board deserves credit for turning things around.

As per Barca Universal, the Catalan giants had to make a significant economic recovery after their wage cap was slashed to €144 million earlier in the year.

The club, however, have successfully taken their wage cap to €656 million this summer. They have accomplished this by utilizing economic levers to create fresh revenue. Barca have also managed to get players such as Philippe Coutinho, Samuel Umtiti, Martin Braithwaite and Miralem Pjanic off their books.

The Spanish side were also excluded from the list of clubs that have been hit with sanctions for breaching the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.