Chelsea will ‘return to the charge’ for Barcelona forward Raphinha this summer after missing out on signing him last year.
That’s according to Sport, who say the Blues have ‘already expressed interest’ in signing the Brazilian, something Barcelona are aware of.
The newspaper explains that Barcelona are satisfied with what they have seen from Raphinha this season, despite the fact his performances have been ‘irregular’.
They accept that they need to make sales this summer to balance the books and bring in players but at this moment in time they would be prioritising the sale of others ahead of the forward.
That, though, does not mean he is off the table, and they will assess every player on a case-by-case basis if there is sufficient interest.
Chelsea are aware of this and have made it clear they would be more than willing to make a bid to sign Raphinha again, having tried for him last summer and even offered Leeds more than Barcelona at the time.
At the moment he is ‘very happy’ with the Catalans and intends to stay but if Barcelona are forced to sell to balance their budget, particularly on the salary side of things, it has been made clear that he could be an ‘emergency solution’ if others refuse to leave or there are no options for them to do so.
Any deal would have to be for an amount ‘greater than’ what Barcelona paid Leeds, although that is unlikely to be of concern to Chelsea given their willingness to spend over the last year.
Indeed, Todd Boehly is believed to be one of those interested in the transfer as he feels Raphinha can be an ‘important piece’ of the squad in the future.
He’ll need to work on the player and his agent, former Chelsea midfielder Deco, who are both aware of the interest but maintaining that he will remain at Barcelona.
Deco is currently in Brazil but intends to return to Europe midway through this month, so expect more on Chelsea’s interest in the coming days and weeks as he presumably sits down for talks to work out what could happen in the summer.
