Rafa back in the groove

Rafa back in the groove

Profile on Braga gem turning heads in Europe

Sporting Braga’s Rafa Silva has experienced an extraordinary rise over the last few seasons. The 21-year-old has emerged from playing in Portugal's second division just a couple of seasons ago to become one of the country's most sought-after young talents.

He had an impressive debut campaign in the Primeira Liga last term, earning his first international caps for Portugal, as well as a place in Paulo Bento's World Cup squad, as the youngest member of the Seleção delegation. This season, he has continued to grow under Braga manager and former Portuguese international Sérgio Conceição.

His performances over that time have caught the attention of several big clubs around Europe. According to reports in the Daily Mirror, Southampton, Sevilla and Bayer Leverkusen have all expressed interest in signing him, and Rafa was picked out by respected Norwegian football scout and Guardian journalist Tor-Kristian Karlsen as one of the 20 targets for Premiership clubs in the January transfer window. PortuGOAL profiles Braga’s Rafa Silva.

 

Career Path

Born in Barreiro, on the opposite side of the River Tagus to Lisbon, Rafa began playing youth football with local clubs Atlético Povoense and Alverca, before moving to Feirense in 2011. The club had just been promoted to the Primeira Liga the season before. He spent his first season in their youth squad. But Feirense's time in top flight lasted all but one year. The following season, Rafa began playing regularly and it became apparent that the club had found a special talent. He played in 41 matches for Feirense during the 2012/13 season, scoring 10 goals.

In the summer of 2013, Braga signed Rafa to a five-year contract, reportedly beating Sporting to his signature. Then-manager Jesualdo Ferreira preached patience with Rafa, limiting him to late game substitute appearances and Portuguese Cup matches at the beginning of the season. But it was not long before Rafa began making a strong case for a starting position.

He scored twice in a Portuguese Cup match against Olhanense early in the season. And he had a memorable match against Braga’s archrivals Vitória Guimarães last January, producing two excellent assists. In the first half, he dribbled past several defenders before laying out a perfect pass in the box for Pardo, who was left with an easy finish. Later, he delivered another quality pass to Raul Rusescu who put Braga 3-0 up. 

In March, he was called up to the senior Seleção for a friendly against Cameroon in Leiria. He started the match on the wing, forcing goalkeeper Charles-Hubert Itandje into a difficult save in the opening minutes before withdrawing due to injury at half-time.

This season, he had a relatively slow start and is off his scoring pace from a year ago. But in November, he came alive again. He scored an outstanding volley (pictured above) in a Portuguese Cup match against Vitória Guimarães (his favourite victim, it seems) in November, and he was named the Best Young player in Portugal's Primeira Liga for December.

 

Strengths, Weakness and Style of Play

Rafa has an impressive range of skills to go along with excellent reading of the game. His tight ball control and dribbling skills are enough for him to usually get the better of defenders one-on-one - he has that rare ability to leave defenders flatfooted by stopping and changing direction in the blink of an eye. 

But it is his regular scoring that has caught the eye of many, his quick release with little backlift and a powerful shot often leading to success. He possesses a rare combination of creativity and scoring ability, which has earned him comparisons with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard.

He is also a very versatile player. He is nominally an attacking midfielder, but he has been mostly deployed on the wing during his time at Braga. He feels equally comfortable on the left and the right flanks. Conceição has deployed him on the wing in his preferred 4-3-3 formation for most of this season.

"I see him as a forward who could play in any of the front three positions," his former manager at Braga Jesualdo Ferreira said last season. "But he can improve his finishing further and he needs to become more robust," he added.

Indeed, Rafa is not yet the finished article, and needs to to work on his consistency, decision-making and ability to stick to his role within a tactical system. But these are problems that should improve with training and playing time. There is no question that Rafa has the raw quality to play at the highest level and he is certainly heading in the right direction.

 

Fact file

Name: Rafael 'Rafa' Alexandre Fernandes Ferreira Silva

Date of birth: 17 May, 1993 (21 years old)

Place of birth: Barreiro, Portugal

Height: 1.70m

Weight: 63Kg

Current club: Sporting Clube de Braga

Position: Attacking Midfielder/Winger

Portugal caps: 3 (0 Goals)

 

By Rui Miguel Martins

For more from Rui (twitter: @futebolfactory) check out Futebolfactory.com.