Barcelona have reached an agreement with Leeds for the signing of Brazil international winger Raphinha, with the deal set to be worth in the region of €75 million....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Barca have been chasing Raphinha for months, with FootballTransfers confirming their interest in the player in March.
Getting the deal over the line has proven to be complicated because of the club’s financial problems, but they have finally settled on a deal that will see the 25-year-old arrive at Camp Nou.
Ben Jacobs reports that terms of the move have been agreed, with Barcelona having had a €60m offer rejected on Saturday.
They returned with a higher bid on Sunday, which has been given the green light by Leeds, who have already sold Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City this summer for a sizeable fee.
A deal has been rushed through after Raphinha gave the La Liga side a 48-hour deadline to get it done.
Barcelona beat Chelsea to Raphinha.
Chelsea had also been interested in Raphinha, but while the Stamford Bridge side did launch an official bid for the player, this was knocked back by Leeds. The Blues were not willing to follow up their interest in the player.
Raphina will become Barcelona’s third signing of the summer following the arrivals of Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen from Milan and Chelsea respectively on free transfers.
The Catalans, though, still face a challenge in registering their new players with the league because of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) limitations on them.
They will have to cut their wage bill to allow their new additions to be registered, either by selling players or by having existing stars accept wage cuts.
Barca were also faced with this problem last season, when they signed Eric Garcia, Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero on free transfers.
Raphinha, meanwhile, could join up with his new Barcelona team-mates for their tour of the USA, which will begin next week and will see them play Inter Miami, Barcelona, Juventus and NY Red Bulls.
