Rafinha

Central Midfielder - Porto
31 Aug 2026
Monday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 2 Transfers Relations Events 27 Awards Matches History

Marked for Rafinha

2 Edition

The Porto Herald

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market10 Aug 2026

Porto say no — this time

The offer from Bayer Leverkusen for Samu Aghehowa was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market10 Aug 2026

Oskar Pietuszewski agrees terms with Penafiel

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Porto people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

Door shut on Víctor Gómez

Porto asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market10 Aug 2026

Nehuén Pérez moves on

Arouca pay $10.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market10 Aug 2026

André Silva turns Heidenheim down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

$1.1M settles it between the clubs for Xavier Biscayzacú

Defensor Sporting have accepted the money. What Porto do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Gabri Veiga signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabri Veiga and Porto agree another 4 years.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Borja Sainz in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad10 Aug 2026

A row about effort at Porto

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Veron was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

  • Squad The formation has left Rafinha behind
  • The dugout Gabri Veiga asks for a word with the manager
  • Looking ahead Looking ahead: AVS at home
Back issues
1 Edition

The Porto Herald

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market3 Aug 2026

Tottenham come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Porto did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad3 Aug 2026

A move Rafinha would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rafinha is living that version at Porto, and it tends to show in the first month.

Market3 Aug 2026

Jakub Kiwior wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Porto hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market3 Aug 2026

Pepê has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Porto can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Jakub Kiwior stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jakub Kiwior and Porto agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Diogo Costa in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market3 Aug 2026

Eyes on Zaidu Sanusi again

The phone has started ringing about Zaidu Sanusi again, and this time the name on the line is Zorya. Porto are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Zaidu Sanusi wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Porto know it.

The dugout3 Aug 2026

Gabri Veiga knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabri Veiga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

  • The terraces Everybody has an opinion about Rafinha
  • The dugout The manager comes out for Diogo Costa