Leeds United have had some seriously memorable players over the last few years.
The era of Marcelo Bielsa brought some of the best times for a supporter in the modern era and with that, there have been plenty of players to write themselves in Leeds folklore.
Unfortunately, that is all but ready to come to a close as some of the final remaining players from that team get ready to say their goodbyes over the next few weeks.
Stuart Dallas announced his retirement on Wednesday after failing to recover from the injury that has kept him out for two years, while Luke Ayling and Liam Cooper look set to join him on their way out of Leeds this summer.
Perhaps not the most talented, but those three players were the backbone of Bielsa’s side for many years, with the sprinkling of stardust added to by the likes of Pablo Hernandez, Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha across different seasons.
Richards says Raphinha always looked like a ‘superstar’ when he was at Leeds
Due to longevity reasons, many Leeds supporters of the younger generation would regard Hernandez as the best player they have seen at the club.
His numbers in both Championship seasons under Bielsa were incredible and during that Covid period when Leeds got promoted, he was simply unplayable.
At the same time, however, Raphinha is probably the best player this club has seen since it was last in the Premier League.
He spent two years at Elland Road before moving onto bigger and better things at Barcelona, making 67 appearances in total, scoring 17 goals and providing 12 assists.
The 27-year-old has undoubtedly found it tougher at Barcelona but enjoyed arguably the best night of his career in the Champions League on Wednesday, scoring twice in a 3-2 win at PSG.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Rest is Football Podcast, Micah Richards says Raphinha often ‘flatters to deceive’ at Barcelona after looking like a ‘superstar’ at Leeds, but was amazed by his display in midweek.
He said: “Fair play to Raphinha. We have looked at Barcelona and saw him at Leeds and he looked like he was going to be a superstar. You know when you went he is playing around better players at Barcelona, no disrespect to Leeds, but every time you watch him he sort of, I don’t want to say, flatters to deceive but yesterday he was really, really good – he was amazing. He had everything.”
Leeds handed Raphinha his platform to shine
Raphinha will always look at his time at Leeds as the period which really elevated his career to the next level, and it’s clear he has not forgotten about Elland Road.
Just a matter of hours after his performance in Paris, he sent a message to Dallas in the wake of his retirement wishing him all the best.
He has also been spotted still wearing Leeds merchandise, and greeting a supporter who went out to watch him in Barcelona.
Leeds supporters are certainly ever grateful for getting the opportunity to watch someone like him at the club, but the Brazilian has a lot to thank the Whites for, too.