Leeds United star Raphinha was on the front page of yesterday’s edition of Sport as he emerged as a transfer ‘objective’ for Barcelona in the next window.
It was also explained the winger is seen as a possible replacement for Ousmane Dembélé as the Frenchman is set to leave the Camp Nou as a free agent in the summer.
The La Liga side’s interest in the Whites attacker is discussed again by Sport on Thursday.
It’s said the first contact between the Catalan club and Jesse Marsch’s side for the 25-year-old already took place.
Xavi Hernández’s side even presented the ‘first firm offer of €35m’ to secure the Brazil international’s services. In the event he makes a switch to the Camp Nou, he will not be considered as a non-EU player since he holds an Italian passport.
Sport add the Spanish giants’ chiefs, Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff, have ‘taken the reins of the negotiations’, with an aim of reaching the definitive agreement with Leeds United in the coming weeks for the former Rennes man.
Liverpool and Bayern Munich are Barca’s main competitors. The newspaper says Alemany and Cruyff are ‘in a rush’ as they ‘want to avoid unwanted surprises’ in the race to sign Raphinha.
Leeds are aware Barcelona are ‘serious’ about the player, after tabling the first firm offer.
With Alemany and Cruyff ‘in a rush’ to close the deal, it remains to be seen whether the transfer negotiations could be concluded soon.
At €35m, that seems unlikely. One thing for Leeds United fans to consider in all of this is the possibility of Barcelona hyping this transfer rumour as a way to send a message to Dembélé that they won’t wait until the summer to replace him, and if he wants to renew he needs to do so soon.
