Barcelona star Raphinha: I was close to accepting Italian national team call

The Bracelona star has now become a regular for the Brazil national team

In 2020, when Roberto Mancini was still in command, the Italian national team reportedly tried to persuade Barcelona sensation Raphinha to join the Azzurri.

Before Raphinha made his senior national team debut with Brazil in 2021, the FIGC reportedly made “strong attempts” to persuade him to play for the Italian national team in 2020, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Since then, Raphinha has acknowledged the approach and disclosed that Jorginho was instrumental in his attempts to convince him to play for Italy.

Before making his major transfer to Barcelona in the summer of 2022, the 28-year-old continued to play in the Premier League with Leeds United at the time of their proposal.

Because his father, Rafael Dias Belloli, is Italian, the former Leeds star was qualified to play for Italy.

Raphinha has an Italian passport through his father

The Barcelona forward also has an Italian passport through his father, so even though he plays for Brazil internationally, he is not considered a non-EU player in Barcelona’s team.

“There was a strong survey from the Italian federation last year,” Barcelona director Deco said in an interview back in 2021, confirming that the FIGC had made attempts to entice Raphinha to Coverciano.

“I was close to accepting the call-up to the Italy national team. I would have gone to the European Championships that they won in 2020. I was pretty much ready,” the Brazil international said in an interview with Isabela Pagliari.

“The guys from the Italian national team called me. Jorginho always called me. The Italian staff had this fantastic project for me, something that really impressed me. But at the same time, deep down, I still had that one percent hope of wearing the Brazil shirt. And fortunately, my Italian passport didn’t arrive in time.”

The fact that Jorginho, Emerson Palmieri, and Rafael Toloi—all of whom have Brazilian ancestry—were members of the Azzurri team that won EURO 2020 in the summer of 2021, Raphinha wouldn’t be considered the only Italian-Brazilian in Roberto Mancini’s 2020 squad.

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