Barcelona to officially unveil Leeds United star Raphinha as their new signing on Friday morning
Barcelona are scheduled to officially unveil the signing of Raphinha from Leeds United on 15 July, according to Sport.
The Spanish newspaper reported via their print edition on Friday (15 July, page six) that Raphinha, 25, landed in Barcelona on Wednesday (13 July) after an agreement was reached to sign him from the Whites.
It is understood that Barca’s announcement schedule isn’t completely transparent but it is understood that a “presentation ceremony” is scheduled on Friday morning.
Sport claims that the Brazil international will put pen to paper on his contract before going to the press room and answering questions from journalists.
This is it
Friday is the day when Raphinha officially leaves Leeds United.
It’s a sad moment but in a way, it’s a good one too.
It shows that Victor Orta is able to find players from overseas and turn them into top-quality Premier League players and eventually see the club earn a massive profit.
If Leeds have one or two more Raphinhas over the coming years, there’s no reason why they won’t have the money and the squad to be able to launch a charge on the European spots in the Premier League.
Of course, selling Raphinha weakens the team.
However, the money gained from offloading the Brazilian star can be spent on two of three new quality signings.
In this case, Luis Sinisterra has already been signed to replace Raphinha and the fee paid to Feyenoord is only a fraction of what Barca are paying for the ex-Rennes winger.
If we use the rest of the money to sign Charles De Ketelaere, would the squad, overall, be better off?
We’d have to say it would be.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay says the Whites can “100 per cent” afford personal terms to sign this new player in a huge deal.