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There wouldn’t have been many neutrals buzzing at the prospect of watching Leeds take on Crystal Palace on Monday evening.

On the face of it, it was a bland, mid-table encounter, suitable for 90 minutes of throwaway viewing, but not much else.

We weren’t about to see, say, any spinning nutmegs, ridiculous chipped through balls, or wild slaloming runs that caused Martin Tyler to clutch his chest in disbelief.

Except no-one told Raphinha it wasn’t the time or the place for those wonderful things.

The Brazilian winger decided he was about to channel peak Ronaldinho and drop the jaws of anyone who tuned in for their Monday evening Premier League fix. It helped Leeds to a big win that moved them into the top half of the table, but what it may not have helped was the Whites’ chances of holding onto him beyond the summer.

A £17m summer signing from Stade Rennais, the electric winger has taken to English football like a duck to water, and has already earned links with Liverpool. Reports in France say the Reds are scouting the 24-year-old since his arrival, and have been impressed enough to place him near the top of their summer shortlist.

The reports gained credence when addressed by The Athletic’s Phil Hay, who said in a Q&A on Monday that he would not come in the cheap given his fast start.

He said: “Everyone will be watching Raphinha. You can’t make this sort of impact and not have people on your case, but he’s on a longer contract and he would cost a lot of money.”

The onlookers from Anfield were said to have been ‘blown away’ by Raphinha’s development since arriving in England, and that was before he delivered one of the best individual performances you are likely to see at Elland Road this season.

Everything he did was picture perfect, standing out all the more against the back-drop of an otherwise attritional encounter. The quality of his first touch looked out of place, and while most of the post-match discourse focused around Patrick Bamford and his 100th career goal, the forward spent much of his own post-match interview raving about his teammate.

Jamie Carragher joked that Bamford’s assessment was so shining that he might have sold him. But Raphinha doesn’t exactly need the help: he sold himself with every touch he took on Monday evening.

Leeds are in a good position, especially if it is Liverpool who are leading the race. The going rate for forwards is exorbitant, and if Wolves can take £40m from the Anfield giants for Diogo Jota, then who knows what Leeds could reasonably ask for in exchange for their talisman who looks increasingly capable of taking teams apart by himself?

If they’re not sure yet, they better get the calculators out, because at this rate, it won’t be long before the concrete offers arrive.

Jurgen Klopp conceded that securing a top four finish was now Liverpool’s main aim, after his side were thrashed 4-1 by Manchester City at Anfield.

The result leaves them 10 points adrift of the table-topping Cityzens, who also have a game in hand over all of their closest rivals.

After a slow start, Sunday’s game sprung early in the second half when Ilkay Gundogan – who missed a penalty before the break – smashed home a rebound from close range to put the visitors 1-0 up.
Mohamed Salah then levelled things up from the spot before Alisson gifted City two goals with a pair of shocking mistakes. Phil Foden then added some gloss to the scoreline with a fine solo strike.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the contest, Klopp insisted that he was happy with his side’s display despite the poor result.

“We played really good football. I really liked it. In the first half we played really good football,” he said. “Against City it doesn’t mean you are 2-0 or 3-0 up it only means you’re in the game. I’m not sure what the possession was but it was for sure not what it’s like usually for City.

“Start of the second half, City changed their system slightly to a 4-4-2. It’s a little adaptation in the end but in that start of the second half we didn’t give enough options to play and gave the first goal away.

“They scored that goal, we scored the equaliser, which in that moment it looked like the game could now go in our direction. We looked really good again.”

Klopp was also asked whether achieving Champions League qualification was now his team’s principal target, to which he responded: “That is of course our main target, that is clear. We will try everything.

“There is enough games to play to secure that – but we have to win games and tonight we didn’t.”

Klopp was later quizzed about Alisson’s errors, saying: “You cannot hide them. It’s two [instances] where we didn’t give him a lot of options, especially around the first one. I think the second one, yeah, he just mis-hit the ball.

“I don’t know, it’s not a real explanation for it but maybe he had cold feet or something. It sounds funny but could be. But there’s still the opportunity to kick it in the stands.

“But Ali has saved our life plenty of times, no doubt about that, and tonight he made two mistakes and that’s how it is.”