Leeds United: Jesse Marsch shares ‘distinct movement’ in Raphinha transfer saga
Raphinha looks set to finally leave Leeds United in the coming days as manager Jesse Marsch has admitted to movement in the deal.
The 25-year-old is not with the senior squad on their pre-season tour of Australia having arrived back from international duty too late to jump on the plane but he has had his heart set on an Elland Road exit all summer.
Goal Brazil reporter Raisa Simplicio reported on Tuesday (12 July) that the Brazilian winger was due to fly into Barcelona on Wednesday to complete a medical and his move to La Liga.
Marsch spoke to the media this morning (afternoon in Australia) and revealed that while a deal was not entirely finished, there had been plenty of movement.
“There’s been distinct movement with Raphinha,” he said as Graham Smyth of the Yorkshire Evening Post relayed via his personal Twitter account.
Smyth went on to paraphrase the key points from Marsch, saying: “Deal not completely done but moving towards completion he adds. Praises the player’s commitment last season, hopes Raphinha gets his dream.”
End it
It finally looks like this whole debacle is going to end and that is ultimately all we want now, whatever the result of it.
Everyone has remained very stubborn for far too long and at times it looked like there would never be an outcome to it all but thankfully the Catalans broke the standoff by eventually reaching our asking price for the 25-year-old.
Leeds United will be undoubtedly worse off without Raphinha at first but the hefty price tag we are set to receive for him should mean that our overall side can become much more balanced in one or two transfer windows time.
Even better for us, we have already signed his replacement in Luis Sinisterra before the Brazilian has even left and if he can replicate his predecessor’s performances at Elland Road then Raphinha could be forgotten rather quickly.
We’ve now got to figure out what to debate after months of Raphinha talk and it might be the same for Victor Orta and Marsch too.
In other Leeds United news, another of the Whites’ attackers have been targeted for a summer transfer move and this one has come completely out of the blue.