Leeds United will not ‘close its doors’ for Raphinha this summer but will demand a ‘very high amount’ for him to leave Elland Road.
That’s according to Sport, who say Leeds’ avoiding relegation has ‘upset’ Barcelona’s plans to sign the Brazilian.
They continue to report that Raphinha is the Catalan club’s ‘main target’ this summer in case Ousmane Dembele does not sign a new deal at the club.
However, the Brazilian’s future is far from clear as Leeds avoiding relegation means that a €25m agreement for him to leave Elland Road has not come into play.
What would have been a ‘simple operation’ has now become ‘greatly complicated’ because Leeds now have the ‘upper hand’ and are asking for €70m.
While they understand that the player has outgrown the club and ‘respect his ambition’ to move on and play Champions League football, they also don’t want to short change themselves.
So while they will not put many obstacles in his way, they want to ensure they get as good a price as possible for their star man.
That’s made things difficult for Barcelona as they could have easily afforded the €25m price, even with their financial problems, but €70m is far beyond their reach.
They already have an agreement in place with the player, and so it is now up to them to work something out with Leeds and ‘lower that figure’ as much as possible.
