As we covered by us this morning, the Catalan media today brought a couple of updates on Barcelona’s chase for Leeds United’s Raphinha. The local slant, as usual, was that the player is waiting for the Camp Nou side to reach a deal with the Whites.
While the transfer to La Liga is on hold, the player is said to be leaving aside the interest from Arsenal, who’ve been in positive contacts with the Elland Road side, despite not having his preference.
What’s interesting is that according to Goal Brasil, the Gunners are actually advancing for the signing, and have a meeting with Raphinha’s staff this week.
Since Barcelona have little economic power right now, it’s said Arsenal are ‘ahead’ in the race to sign the player, and ‘will try to accelerate’ the talks this week by raising their bid.
It’s claimed that despite Leeds’ £65m request, his staff believe they’ll accept a £50m offer. That contradicts a claim from Marca today, who stated the asking price is €50m.
That all sounded contradictory, with the Catalan media claiming Arsenal were nearly being ignored, while Goal Brasil reported the scheduled meeting. And it turns out that according to another Brazilian outlet, the Gunners are indeed showing up as a possible destination.
Globo Esporte claims that even though Raphinha and his agent Deco both prefer Barça, they ‘would not rule out’ a move to the North London side, as long as the La Liga giants fail to get to a deal. The outlet also says that Mikel Arteta’s side are willing to raise their bid.
So on Arsenal’s behalf, it sounds like they now just wait and hope Barça don’t reach a deal with Leeds. Then it all becomes more simple for the Gunners to land Raphinha.
