Raphinha could land in Spain on Monday, FC Barcelona is pulling ahead of Chelsea in the race for the Brazilian
Raphinha, one of Barça's top targets this summer, could land in the Catalan capital this coming Monday. As SPORT has been able to confirm, negotiations between Leeds United and Barça have already entered their final phase. Moreover, they could reach an agreement at any time.
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The Blaugrana club's representatives in this transaction are also optimistic that Raphinha could arrive at the beginning of the week in the Condal City, to sign as a new Barça player for the next five seasons. Everything suggests that the left-footed winger could become the first major signing of the second project of Joan Laporta and Xavi Hernandez, even ahead of Robert Lewandowski.
‘Rapha’ has never been so close to joining Barça
SPORT already advanced this Friday that the incorporation of Raphinha was very possible and that everything was on the right track. Barça presented to Leeds FC what it considers to be its last offer: 55 million euros as transfer value plus variables for the Brazilian international's transfer.
Raphinha's unyielding stance, refusing to sign for any club other than Barcelona, and the work of Deco, the player's agent, as a retaining wall against offers from the Premier League and as a facilitator of dialogue between Barça and Leeds, have had success.
Barcelona, with a lower offer, are getting their way against clubs like Chelsea (who have a transfer agreement with Leeds for 70 million euros for Raphinha), Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool willing to go all out for a winger who is one of the sensations of the Premier League, despite the difficulties that Leeds had last season to stay in the top-flight.
In Yorkshire, they are not in the mood to prolong negotiations, aware that their franchise player has already decided to leave the club in this transfer window. For this reason, Raphinha's presence in Leeds' pre-season tour of Australia has been ruled out.
