Leeds United’s Raphinha has 10 goals and three assists to his name and his fine displays for the Premier League side have seen other clubs take notice.
Over the past two months, various reports coming out of the Catalan press have indicated Barcelona’s interest in the winger.
A few days ago, claims in the British press indicated the La Liga side will hold imminent talks with Leeds United for the 25-year-old.
Jordi Cruyff is one of the Blaugrana’s sporting leaders. The Dutchman and Barca’s director of football, Mateu Alemany, made a trip to London on Tuesday.
That’s according to Sport, who suggest the Spanish club’s chiefs could have advanced deals for the Leeds United player or Chelsea trio of César Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso and Romelu Lukaku.
The Brazil international is on the Catalan club’s summer transfer agenda. Sport state ‘it would not be unreasonable to think that some emissary from Leeds’ could have travelled to London to hold talks with both Alemany and Cruyff, for the former Rennes attacker.
Barca want to sign Jesse Marsch’s man, if they fail to retain Ousmane Dembélé beyond this season. However, Xavi Hernández’s side ‘will wait to launch their final offer’ until Leeds United’s situation is made clear.
Leeds are 17th in the table and are two points ahead of 18th placed Everton, who have a game in hand. If the Whites are relegated, then Raphinha’s price tag will ‘go down a lot’, and it would be easier for Barcelona to acquire his services.
