Raphinha Returns to Barcelona: A New Season of Expectations

Raphinha is back in Barcelona colours, and this time the stakes feel higher.

The Brazilian winger reported to FC Barcelona’s pre-season camp at St George’s Park in England earlier today, cutting short the quiet anonymity of his summer break to rejoin Hansi Flick and a squad already deep into their preparations for the new campaign. The countdown is on: La Liga starts against Elche on 23 August. There is no time to drift into rhythm. He has to hit it.

Back from a bruising World Cup

Raphinha arrives carrying more than just luggage. His World Cup with Brazil was supposed to be a showcase; instead, it turned into a cautionary tale about fragile momentum.

He started Brazil’s first two group games, only for his tournament to unravel after 39 minutes of the second match against Haiti. A thigh injury to his right leg ended his involvement before it had truly begun. Brazil’s campaign followed a similar arc, collapsing in the round of 16 against Norway and leaving a sense of unfinished business for everyone involved, not least their right-sided livewire.

Barcelona, though, are not dwelling on that failure. Inside the club, the expectation is blunt: Raphinha returns fully recovered, ready to work, and ready to be the version of himself that once bent entire defences to his will.

No rush into the friendlies

His presence in England is a clear boost, but it does not mean he will be thrown straight into action. Journalist Nil Sola reports that, as things stand, Raphinha is unlikely to feature in Barça’s first two friendlies of the summer.

The schedule is already set. Birmingham City on 31 July. Preston North End on 3 August. Two fixtures that will help shape Flick’s early decisions, but probably not with Raphinha on the pitch. He has joined the group only today, and the technical staff are wary of sprinting before he can jog.

The message is simple: this is about the season, not the week.

Flick wants his Ballon d’Or contender back

Strip away the noise and one truth remains: Hansi Flick wants the Raphinha of 2024-25 back.

In Flick’s first season in charge, the Brazilian produced the best football of his career. His numbers were outrageous: 34 goals and 26 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions. Those returns pushed him into the conversation for the Ballon d’Or, not as a token outsider but as a genuine contender on merit.

With him on the pitch, Barcelona looked different. Sharper in transition, more venomous in the final third, and far more aggressive without the ball. Their press bit harder. Their attacks carried a constant threat from wide areas. Raphinha turned half-chances into goals and sterile possession into chaos.

Then came last season.

Hamstring problems repeatedly dragged him to the treatment room and out of Flick’s plans. He still managed 33 appearances and 21 goals, a tally that would flatter many forwards, yet the numbers told only half the story. The rhythm was broken, the continuity gone. Every time he looked ready to explode again, another setback arrived.

Built back in the lab

So this summer is not just another pre-season. It is a rebuild.

Both Flick and Raphinha have circled the same target: return to that devastating 2024-25 level and stay there. To give that ambition a structure, Barcelona’s new head of physical preparation, Benjamin Kugel, has drawn up a tailored fitness programme specifically for the Brazilian.

This is not a generic conditioning plan. It is a bespoke blueprint, designed around his body, his position, and the recurring muscle issues that derailed him. The aim is clear: keep him on the pitch from August to May, not just in bursts between scans and setbacks.

If it works, Barcelona regain one of Europe’s most influential attackers, a winger who can tilt title races and transform tight games with a single surge inside or a whipped cross to the far post.

If it doesn’t, the questions will return. Not about his talent—that has never been in doubt—but about how long a team with Barcelona’s ambitions can afford to lean on a player whose body won’t always follow his will.

For now, though, the scene is set: Raphinha at St George’s Park, Flick on the training ground, Kugel with his programme, and a season looming that may define whether the Brazilian’s Ballon d’Or candidacy was a fleeting peak or the start of something far more enduring.