Leeds United: Simon Jordan barges in on Jim White amid £50m Raphinha reveal live on-air
Simon Jordan has urged Leeds United to rinse Arsenal for as much cash as possible for Raphinha this summer.
The Times reported on Monday (20 June) that Arsenal are set to table a bid for the 25-year-old Brazil winger with Leeds set to demand over £50million for him.
Jim White was reporting that £50million fee on talkSPORT and was interrupted by ex-Crystal Palace owner Jordan, who urged the Yorkshire giants to get more money because £50million is below what Raphinha is worth.
“It’s said that if it was to go – and Arsenal are being mentioned in that conversation – the sum of £50million has been mentioned,” said White, as shown in a clip on the talkSPORT Twitter account on Tuesday (21 June).
Jordan butted in to say: “It’s not enough.”
White continued: “Raphinha’s agent is Deco, remember him?”
Jordan then carried on saying: “It’s not enough for Leeds.
“[The] bottom line is he’s a good player, he’s an intricate part of Leeds, he’s a very, very talented footballer, he’s of the same kind of genre as Riyad Mahrez.
“If Leeds are going to be forced into a situation where they sell him, because Arsenal are currently doing better than Leeds are, then they’ve got to pay top, top money. That’s Leeds’ job, that’s what [Andrea] Radrizzani’s got to achieve.”
White said: “What would you want for Raphinha?”
Jordan replied: “As much as I could possibly get.
“If they were to offer me £50m, I’d want £70m. If they offered me £70m, I’d want £80m.
“I’d want them to work as hard as they possibly can, I’d want to sweat the asset and make sure that they got nothing from me that was vaguely resembling what they thought was a deal.”
White then asked if that’s easier said than done, to which Jordan replied: “It depends how good you are on negotiating deals”.
Over to the board
Victor Orta, Angus Kinnear and Radrizzani will no doubt be working hard together to ensure that Leeds get as much money as possible for Raphinha.
While he’s not the club’s prized asset – that’s Kalvin Phillips – he’s a player who’s been linked with a move to clubs across England and across the rest of Europe.
It seems as though the move to Barcelona is dead in the water.
Raphinha’s agent Deco will have no doubt been the driving force behind that due to his links to the Nou Camp but we can also understand why a Brazilian would want to go there.
However, Barca are riddled with debt and even if they could afford Leeds’ valuation of Raphinah, would they even be able to register him in their squad?
Arsenal have shown small signs of improvement in recent years.
Signing Raphinha would obviously strengthen them further as they aim to make it back into the top-four and playing in the Champions League.
But Raphinha will want that now, surely. He’ll want to play in the Champions League.
In other Leeds United news, this Leeds star is ready to make a public request to leave Elland Road.