Leeds United get success in battle to keep Raphinha as Barcelona start to lose interest in major transfer
Leeds United are starting to have major success in their mission to keep Raphinha at Elland Road beyond this summer, according to David Anderson.
The Mirror journalist has reported that Barcelona are starting to lose interest and fall away as negotiations continue, despite agreeing personal terms with the Brazilian.
It is said that Leeds are not budging on their £60million asking price, and this is strengthening their position to price Raphinha out of his move to Elland Road.
Writing in his latest column for the Mirror on Thursday evening [09 June], Anderson shared the news that all Leeds fans have been waiting to hear.
“Leeds are having success in hanging onto their other star player, Raphinha, and Barcelona are understood to be losing interest because of their refusal to drop their £60million asking price for the Brazil winger,” he wrote.
“Barcelona have agreed personal terms with Raphinha and the Samba star has set his heart on a move to the Nou Camp. But the hard-up Catalan side are not prepared to offer more than £30million as they also try and fund a bid for Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski.
“This strengthens Leeds’ position and they may be able to price Raphinha out of a move.”
Going nowhere.
This is the news that we have all been waiting for all summer.
We all knew that the only way this was going to happen was if Leeds gave in and buckled as Barcelona tried to get a deal over the line for next to nothing.
There were reports of player swap deals, but the Whites knew that they weren’t going t be first-team players who featured regularly, so sent the Spaniards packing.
£30million for Raphinha, a player who has set the Premier League alight is simply offensive, and even if he dreams of the Nou Camp one day, even he must understand that it shouldn’t happen this way.
With this news, it is more and more likely that the superstar winger will be lining up at Elland Road next season, and if he starts performing well and pushes Leeds towards Europe, that could be used for him to sign a new deal.
With two years left on his current contract, there is no immediate pressure to renew, but with a move now potentially unlikely, we can all breathe for now.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites are readying a new bid for a blockbuster striker signing according to Phil Hay after Premier League survival