Arsenal have been in direct talks with Leeds United about signing Raphinha from under the noses of Barcelona this summer....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Fabrizio Romano has given an update on the Brazilian wideman on YouTube, in which he said that Chelsea and Tottenham are also keen.
Raphinha has personal terms agreed at the Nou Camp, but the finances of the transfer fee are an issue for Barcelona, and their financial issues are well known.
The Premier League interest comes from clubs with more cash to spend, but it remains to be seen whether any of them can get a deal done.
Arsenal have had direct talks over Raphinha
Romano said: “I wanted to discuss about Raphinha, another crazy deal. This one is a really crazy one. End of February, start of March, Deco, Raphinha’s agent reached an agreement with Barca on personal terms. The agreement is still there but Barcelona have no agreement with Leeds on the fee.
“Barcelona were hoping for Leeds to be relegated to trigger the relegation clause and sign Raphinha easily.
“It didn’t happen, so now Leeds are not going to accept €40 million, when they see rumours of €40 million for Raphinha, they say it’s absolutely impossible. If Barcelona want to sign him, they must change their proposal. Arsenal, direct contact with Leeds, they had a direct negotiation, club to club. So Arsenal are doing serious with Raphinha.
“Let’s see if they will submit an official proposal in the coming days, but they know Leeds are expecting around €65 – 75 million for Raphinha. Let’s see if that means including add-ons or not, let’s see the structure of the deal. Arsenal are in direct contact with Leeds for Raphinha.
“Chelsea and Tottenham have explored this possibility and are in contact with people close to Raphinha to understand if they can make a proposal, to see how the race is going. Crazy deal but I feel in the coming days we will have more updates.”
Perhaps for Arsenal, it would depend on whether they could get rid of Nicolas Pepe, another left-footed right winger who likes cutting in.
Ironically, for the £72 million Unai Emery paid for Pepe, they could almost certainly get Leeds to sell Raphinha to them this summer.
It would be a huge statement of intent if Arsenal got Raphinha, although he does of course play in the same role – in the same style too – as their player of the year Bukayo Saka.
