Transfer Centre

Rafinha: 'I could leave Barcelona on loan'

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 01 September 2016

Rafinha concedes that he could leave Barcelona on loan in January if he struggles to secure regular football in the first half of the 2016-17 campaign.

Rafinha has conceded that he could leave Barcelona on loan in January if he struggles to secure regular football in the first half of the 2016-17 campaign.

The Brazilian midfielder has now recovered from the serious knee injury that he suffered last season and is back with the Barcelona squad after representing his country in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio this summer.

The 23-year-old is "not thinking about leaving" Camp Nou, but has admitted that he might be forced to seek a short-term move if he fails to make his mark in the final months of 2016.

"I am not thinking about leaving. The truth is that I want to be here at Barca," he told Catalunya Radio. "Logically, if I do not get minutes on the pitch, well it is normal that a player wants to play. The best thing for a footballer, the normal thing, is to want to be on the pitch.

"If that doesn't happen here, there is no problem in me going on loan elsewhere. But I will give my all to get playing time at Barca."

Rafinha spent the 2013-14 campaign on loan at Celta Vigo before returning to Barcelona in 2014. Last term, the midfielder scored twice in 11 appearances.