Inter’s option to sign Rafinha for €35 million has expired
Rafinha’s father and agent, Mazinho, doesn’t want his son to stay at Barcelona. He spoke on Rafinha’s future after Inter Milan’s option to sign him expired. The Milanese club had taken him on loan last season, but didn’t exercise their option to make the move permanent.
Rafinha’s career at the Camp Nou has been hampered by injuries. He was used as an utility player by Luis Enrique, and just as he was about to settle in, he suffered a cruciate ligament rupture, which kept him out for 5 months.
And then, after Luis Enrique left the club, the Brazilian midfielder suffered yet another injury, which kept him out of the pre-season and he never really had a chance of making it into Ernesto Valverde’s plans for the season.
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In January, Rafinha moved to Inter on loan, where he made 19 appearances, scoring twice. He enjoyed his spell at San Siro, and wanted to move there permanently, but now, there is no chance of that happening, as Inter have signed Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan as an alternative.
This summer, Rafinha is expected to leave the club. His father, Mazinho, has been busy finding potential destinations for him. Apparently, the 25-year old playmaker has a lot of options available to him, from all across Europe.
"Mazinho said, “”We need to evaluate the best for him. Until now everything was still waiting for Inter, now it’s time to find a new team as soon as possible. LaLiga, Premier League, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga clubs have come in. From Serie A, of course, some big teams have already contacted us.The goal is to start the season with a new shirt. It does not depend only on us, but also on Barcelona.”"
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The club should not keep a disgruntled player at the club. But in order to do that, the club needs to reduce its asking price significantly. Although Rafinha is very talented, he is injury-prone and the management needs to take that into consideration.