Raphinha Agrees To Join FC Barcelona From Leeds United

Leeds United winger Raphinha has agreed to join FC Barcelona.

According to Sport, the 25-year-old has asked his agent and Barca club legend Deco who represents him to do everything in his power to seal the move to the Camp Nou next term.

The daily newspaper writes that, as a fully-fledged Brazil international and starter in Tite’s team who will head to Qatar to play the World Cup last year, Raphinha believes that the time has come to make the jump to the elite.

“He feels absolutely prepared to face the great challenge of his career: to play in a great club like Barcelona, ​​for which he has prepared himself thoroughly in recent years,” the Catalan publication adds, with other interested clubs including Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.

It was also Sport who reported that Barca had made an offer of €35mn ($38.5mn) to Raphinha’s current relegation-threatened club Leeds United in recent days.

This is likely to be knocked back, however, with Raphinha’s release clause currently set at more than double this amount at €75mn ($82.5mn). The Porto Alegre native also doesn’t want to come out publicly and force a move, with two years left on his contract which runs until 2024, but he has refused offers of extensions to his current deal.

This same logic applies to Ousmane Dembele at the Blaugrana, and Raphinha is being lined up to replace the Frenchman who joined in 2017 from Borussia Dortmund but is a free man on June 30, with Barca believing he will head home and sign for Paris Saint Germain.

As appears to be the case with ‘Dembouz’, Raphinha also wants to switch allegiances this summer and it is now up to Deco, plus Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff with the blessing of president Joan Laporta, to get a deal over the line.

Leeds United are still yet to answer to the “firm proposal” brought forward by Barca, with this the last year they can probably hope to get a good price for Raphinha given he will be in the last 12 months of his contract before the start of the 2023/2024 season.

Possessing an Italian passport, Raphinha also wouldn’t have to be registered as a non-EU player like most South Americans.