Sorry Barcelona as Chelsea set to win race to sign Brazilian star
A week ago, Barcelona stepped in to sabotage the Raphinha acquisition, which Chelsea had been leading.
Due to Leeds accepting a £60 million offer from Chelsea, the Blues previously hijacked the deal from Arsenal.
When Deco, the Brazilian’s agent, was spotted on Wednesday at Barcelona’s office, the move took an unexpected turn.
Raphinha and Barcelona had personal terms agreed upon in March, and Barcelona was counting on Raphinha’s desire to play in the La Liga to convince him to join with them.
Raphinha’s transfer to Barcelona, however, has not yet been agreed upon by Leeds and Barcelona.
Raphinha’s most recent offer from Barcelona was turned down, making Chelsea the only team to have made a deal with Leeds.
Raphinha may have little choice but to join Chelsea or stay at Elland Road despite the boasting of Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
Deco, the agent for Raphinha, appears to be fed up with Barcelona’s attempts to thwart Chelsea’s acquisition of the Leeds United star.
Deco has reportedly given Barcelona until today to reach an agreement with Leeds United or he will reopen negotiations with Chelsea, according to reports from Brazil.
Raphinha was not chosen for the preseason trip with Leeds, and Leeds manager Jesse Marsch said that the winger’s problem should be resolved quickly.
Marsch said: “It hasn’t been an easy time for him this summer, things have come and gone and there’s been a lot of little discussions.
“Right now he’s our player, he showed up today [Thursday] and trained with everybody. He had such a good attitude. We had a very open and honest conversation about while he’s here he’s part of us and we’ll see what happens.
“There’s still a long way to go in the transfer window, I know he has hopes and dreams and we’ll see how everything goes.
“I said to him, I know he loves this team, this club and being here but we’ll see how things progress day by day.
“I think we just have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of days. There’s urgency from his end I think to come up with a solution and then we have to see where things stand and then make that decision.”