Raphinha Aims to Overcome World Cup Setback at Barcelona's Pre-Season
Raphinha will report to Barcelona’s pre-season camp in England this week with a clear objective: leave the World Cup pain and his fragile muscles behind, and reclaim his status as one of Hansi Flick’s untouchables.
The Brazilian is due to join the squad on 29 July for the training base that runs until 3 August, a week that includes friendlies against Birmingham City on 31 July and Preston North End on 3 August. The club has not ruled out the possibility of him appearing at the training ground even earlier to travel with the group.
For Flick, it feels almost like a new signing. Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi have arrived to refresh the attack for the 2026-27 season, but the coach’s plans lean heavily on a winger who already knows the way to the podium. Under the German, Raphinha has been central to the five trophies Barça have lifted, a recurring presence in decisive nights despite a body that has too often betrayed him.
World Cup dream that never really started
Three weeks ago, Brazil went out of the 2026 World Cup with a 2-1 defeat to Norway on 5 July. Raphinha watched the decisive game from the bench, medically cleared but unused. For a player who had reached the tournament as one of Brazil’s most prominent forwards, it was a brutal, empty ending.
His World Cup had effectively collapsed in the group stage. He left the match against Haiti after feeling pain in the hamstring of his right knee. Scans confirmed the issue, yet the door to a return stayed ajar. It never opened. Against Norway, with Brazil chasing the game and a nation expecting its stars, he stayed seated, the bib on his shoulders symbolising a season that promised everything and delivered turbulence.
Those days were noisy off the pitch as well. Stories of financial and family problems surfaced around him, only to be denied by those closest to the player. At the same time, talk emerged of an alleged €80 million offer from Al-Hilal, a proposal that never reached him and that he chose to ignore. While the speculation swirled, he slipped briefly out of the spotlight, spotted in Orlando and Ibiza with his family, trying to recover both body and mind.
A season of peaks and painful interruptions
Raphinha’s year at Barcelona had already been a study in contrasts. On the one hand, he collected silverware and smashed personal bests for goals, assists and overall impact in Flick’s first campaign. His form pushed him into the conversation for the 2024-25 Ballon d’Or, a remarkable rise for a winger who had often been judged on streaks rather than consistency.
On the other, the same hamstring in his right knee kept dragging him backwards. A setback in September, another problem around the March international break, and then the relapse in Brazil’s meeting with France just before the World Cup opener. That last injury wiped out months of careful preparation and stripped him of the chance to carry his club form onto the biggest stage.
The timing hurt Barcelona as much as it did Brazil. The March injury sidelined him for five weeks and overlapped with Barça’s exits from both the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Every time Flick looked set to lean fully into a front line built around Raphinha’s aggression and creativity, the medical reports intervened.
The player has drawn his own conclusions. The pattern is too clear, the stakes too high. He knows that another season punctured by muscle problems will cost him not just minutes, but his place at the centre of Barcelona’s project.
A tailored rebuild in England
That is why this pre-season in England matters. It is not just a warm-up tour with two modest friendlies. For Raphinha, it is the start of a personal reconstruction.
Barcelona’s staff will put him on a specific, individualised programme, designed to strengthen that troublesome right hamstring and reduce the risk of yet another breakdown. The club’s focus mirrors his own: end the cycle of injuries, keep him on the pitch, and allow his football to dictate the headlines again.
Inside the club, the message around his future is unambiguous. President Joan Laporta has already drawn a line: “We have no intention of him leaving Barcelona.” With Gordon and Adeyemi joining the attacking rotation, that stance underlines how highly they still rate the Brazilian’s ceiling when fit.
Raphinha arrives in England carrying frustration, but also a platform. Under Flick, he has already shown he can be a title-winning reference point, not just a streaky winger. The next step is simple to describe and brutally hard to execute: stay healthy, stay decisive, and turn a season of “what if” into one that finally matches his ambition.
