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Leeds winger Raphinha one step away from agreement on £6m per-year deal to join Chelsea
Raphinha is edging closer to a Leeds exit after Chelsea offered him £6m per-year to leave for London, blowing all their rivals for his signature out of the water.
That’s according to journalist Gianluigi Longari, who first tweeted about the interest from the Blues in the Brazilian way back in December 2021, and initially broke the news of his relegation release clause in his contract.
He now says, via his personal Twitter account, that an agreement between the club and player is just “one step away” after they offered him a deal worth £115,000 per-week, almost double his current wages at Elland Road.
Raphinha had been expected to leave the club this summer for Barcelona, but the Spanish giants never made an offer close to that of Leeds’ asking price and Chelsea blasted ahead of Arsenal with a big offer.
It now seems a matter of time before he dons the blue of Chelsea, becoming the first player ever to move from Elland Road directly to Stamford Bridge.
Makes sense
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Chelsea are very keen to get this deal done and rightly, Leeds have held firm until they were able to get their price and will now allow the player to move on.
It’s heart-wrenching to know that a top player won’t be with us for the new season after playing such a major part in keeping the team in the Premier League during the 2021/22 season.
But this is the Leeds model working to perfection. They scouted well, bought relatively cheap, have sold high to make a big profit and will now reinvest in the squad to improve.
Now for the Whites it’s all about making sure that reinvestment is done properly, with adequate replacements brought in for the Brazilian to ensure the team doesn’t go backwards and remains a threat.
Fans won’t begrudge Raphinha the move, he was professional throughout the saga and gave his all on the pitch, but hopefully he doesn’t do the business the next time he’s on the pitch with Leeds.
In other Leeds news, star man turns down mega-money PL move after formal talks held