They already agreed
This superstar almost ended up with Hannover 96
Updated on May 11th, 2025 – 5:43 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
He hits and meets: Raphinha is currently fully flourishing at FC Barcelona and is one of the superstars of the Catalans. He would once have landed for a hair in Germany.
There are always stories of dazzling top stars, which would have almost made it into comparatively small clubs in the early stages of their career. And yet it is always astonishing which clubs the big names – at that time still as a blank leaf – stood on the piece before their big breakthrough.
If Raphinha causes a sensation in the FC Barcelona jersey at the highest level, it is hardly imaginable, for example, that the dribbling artist’s remarkable actions could also have been available at Hannover 96. But that’s exactly how it was. The Lower Saxony had secured the services of the offensive player, which has now become a superstar, in 2018.
According to the matching information from “Bild” and “Sky”, the Deal 2018 was almost in dry towels. Hanover wanted Raphinha, playing for the Portuguese club Vitória Guimarães – and Raphinha wanted to go to Hanover. The then 96 manager Horst Heldt already agreed with the fast offensive man.
The sticking point was ultimately the transfer fee. Guimarães’ demand is said to have been 500,000 euros higher than Hanover was ready to pay. According to “Sky”, the long-time 96 President Martin Kind finally came across. The deal had burst.
Instead of Hanover, the 21-year-old Raphinha moved to Lisbon-Club Sporting in summer 2018. The Portuguese cost 6.5 million euros. Raphinha finally landed at FC Barcelona via Stade Rennes (2019 to 2020) and Leeds United (2020 to 2022). The impressive proof of his steep climb: The Catalans put a whopping 58 million euros on the table for Raphinha.
And in Spain it is known to play big today. Under the former federal and Bayern coach Hansi Flick, the now 28-year-old is an absolute regular player and is one of the most important actors. In the current season, he is with 32 goals and 25 templates in 53 competitive games of the top scorer of the Barça Star Semble. According to estimates by the data portal “Transfermarkt.de”, it has a market value of 80 million euros.
It is questionable whether he would have gone this path in the Hannover 96 jersey. There will never be an answer to this question. However, it is clear that the sophisticated qualities of the offensive player would have been at all the way to see the mature qualities.