Barcelona star admits he ‘was close’ to declaring for Italian national team: ‘My passport didn’t come through’ | OneFootball

A leading member of the attacking ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona has this week revealed that he came close to committing his international future to Italy.

The player in question? Raphinha.

Wide-man Raphinha, of course, currently plies his trade at international level with Brazil.

Since making his debut for the Seleção back in 2021, the former Leeds United man has racked up 33 caps, chipping in with 11 goals along the way.

As alluded to above, though, had things played out just a little differently, Raphinha’s exploits on the international front could well have been coming in a very different colour.

Speaking during an interview with Isabela Pagliari, as cited by Fabrizio Romano, this week, the in-form winger admitted that he came very close to declaring for Italy in 2020:

“I was close to accepting Italian national team call! I was supposed to go to the Euro they won in 2020. I was basically set to go. So luckily, the passport didn’t come through.

“At that point, the people from the Italian national team were calling me. Jorginho used to call me all the time. The Italian staff had this amazing project for me, something that really caught my eye. But at the same time, deep down, I still had that one percent of hope that I could wear the Brazil shirt. And luckily, my Italian passport didn’t get ready in time!”

Conor Laird – GSFN