Leeds United have the ultimate secret weapon in Igor Paixão transfer talks
Leeds United have the perfect sell for ambitious transfer target Igor Paixão after meeting with his representatives this week.
When Leeds United met with the representatives of Igor Paixão this week, their sell will have been much the same as it was for other transfer targets.
Recruitment chiefs are known to be showing prospective targets videos from last season’s 100-point Championship title win, and more notably the scenes that followed. The celebrations outside Elland Road once promotion was confirmed. The away end at Plymouth Argyle. The open-top bus parade and subsequent scenes at Katie O’Brien’s Irish pub.
A visual representation of what life can be like at Leeds United when the going is good. The going won’t be quite as good next season but survival will be met with just as much joy as promotion. One step closer to finally being an established Premier League outfit.
The YEP exclusively reported on meetings between Leeds and Paixão’s representatives this week and those meetings will almost certainly have consisted of such videos. Club chiefs also detailed how Paixão - most naturally a right-footed left-winger who can operate across the attacking unit - would fit into Daniel Farke’s plans for next season and beyond.
But for Paixão, Leeds have a secret weapon, the perfect example of how a move to Elland Road can kickstart a climb to the top of European football. Five years ago, when the Whites were last promoted to the Premier League under Marcelo Bielsa, their marquee signing was a compatriot of Feyenoord’s Brazilian winger.
Raphinha wasn’t Leeds’ record signing that summer - an accolade that went to Rodrigo - but he was certainly their most ambitious, a £17million gem tucked away in northwestern France with Rennes who has gone on to become a genuine Ballon d’Or contender. Like Paixão, he was a hugely exciting winger but one whose qualities were raw and unfinished, yet to be tested in an environment as demanding as the Premier League.
Raphinha is Leeds United’s secret weapon in Igor Paixão talks
Raphinha raised the level at Leeds significantly, registering nine goals and six assists in his first season at Elland Road - that despite not starting a Premier League game until late November - as Bielsa’s side finished ninth. Relegation danger loomed the following campaign but he still bagged 11 goals and three assists, including a final-day penalty at Brentford that kept his side up.
Raphinha got his first senior Brazil cap while playing club football at Leeds and has been a regular since, another important consideration for Paixão who is looking to break into that same squad ahead of next year’s World Cup. The 25-year-old is yet to win a senior cap but was included in a 52-man preliminary squad in February, a suggestion he is right on the cusp.
Two years as the talisman in a Leeds side who, at best, were mid-table Premier League and, at worst, were in deep relegation trouble, was enough to catch the eye of Barcelona. He got that dream move to Camp Nou in 2022, evidence for someone like Paixão that they will not be kept against their will if the price to leave is right.
And since moving to Barcelona, albeit after a couple of hit-and-miss campaigns, Raphinha has developed into a genuine world-beater, those un-finished skills now perfected under Hansi Flick. He has won La Liga twice, claimed three domestic cups and is among the favourite’s to be crowned the world’s best player later this year.
Paixão is likely to have a few options on the table this summer, just rewards for a season in which he contributed 16 goals and 16 assists, helping Feyenoord into the Champions League last-16. Marseille are known to be interested in the winger, Liverpool have been linked in previous windows and other top clubs across Europe will no doubt be looking.
Leeds weren’t Raphinha’s final destination and they might not be Paixão’s either, but they have proven to be a great platform for success and match-winners are loved at Elland Road. If the Feyenoord man has any doubts about that, he can just message the last Brazilian to make LS11 his home.