Barcelona forward Raphinha has said working with a psychologist is essential for anyone navigating a career as a professional footballer and not let the sport “destroy you.”
Raphinha, 27, has started the season in fine form, scoring a hat trick in Saturday’s 7-0 win against Real Valladolid, but his time at Barça has not always been easy.
Since joining from Leeds United in 2022 for €55 million ($60.7m), he has struggled to adapt to the club, seen his performances criticised and been regularly linked with a transfer elsewhere.
When asked if he if he had ever considered leaving Barça, Raphinha told RAC1: “Yes, in my first six months here. They were complicated for me and my family. I improved after the [Qatar] World Cup and ended the season well, but the adaption was a struggle.
“I thought about leaving at times, but those thoughts passed quickly. This is Barça. The club is huge; it’s normal that it’s hard.
“If you work hard and want to have a football career, you can’t give up. I have had many reasons to give up, leave football and continue with my life. It’s a profession that destroys you.
“There have been moments when I have got home and not known if I would get up the next morning to train again. I have cried, here [at Barça] as well.
“I do psychological work because I have seen how important it is. Everyone should do it because it helps a lot.
“If you don’t take care of yourself, football destroys you. It’s very easy to enter depression and give up on everything.”
Even this summer, after registering 10 goals and 13 assists in all competitions last season, saw Raphinha linked with a move away from Barça, with English and Saudi Arabian clubs credited with an interest.
Meanwhile, Barça were keen to sign a left winger, with Nico Williams and Federico Chiesa both targeted to fulfil a position that has been Raphinha’s since the emergence of Lamine Yamal on the right.
“It’s annoying to see [the stories], even if it’s normal,” he added of the constant transfer speculation.
“Every day there is something, that I am going here or there. It ends up annoying you, of course, but my head has always been here. I have received a lot of offers but the best thing for me is to be at Barça.”
Raphinha, who is one of the club’s captains this season, has not been called up by Brazil during the September international break despite his impressive start to the season under new coach Hansi Flick, with Barça winning all four of their opening games.
It means he will enjoy some time off over the weekend, but was in for training on Tuesday as Flick bolstered the squad by calling up several youngsters, including United States youth international Pedro Soma.
Soma, 18, joined the club’s reserve team from Cornellà last week and was an unused substitute in the weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Andorra in the Spanish third division.
He was one of six Barça Atlètic players summoned by Flick, which is also included defender Landry Farré, another member of the 2007 generation that produced Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí and Marc Bernal.