There was a time when a transfer taking Raphinha from Leeds United to Barcelona seemed almost like a done deal.
Now, however, the move looks far from done and there’s a good chance the Brazilian’s dream move to Catalonia is some way off.
This is what Sport hint at on Tuesday when looking at the situations of various dossiers they are currently dealing with, including the one involving the Leeds star.
It’s said that when it comes to the winger, ‘the balloon has been deflating’ ever since the Elland Road side managed to stay up in the Premier League, meaning his release clause never dropped down to €25m.
One of the reasons is that ‘the economic differences between the Blaugrana and Leeds are very large’, with the former wanting to offer around €30m, while the Whites ‘expect to receive a figure close to €60m’.
Still, ‘there is a meeting planned in the next few days in Leeds to try to get the operation off the ground’, and it should be remembered that Deco, the player’s agent, ‘plays in favour of the Catalans’ because ‘he also works as an external advisor to the Barcelona sports management’.
