Barcelona planning €70 million offer for Raphinha

Barcelona are reportedly keen on hijacking Chelsea’s move for Leeds United winger Raphinha by launching a bid worth €70 million.

According to Italian journalist Gianluigi Longari, Barcelona are still hopeful of beating Chelsea to the signing of Leeds United star Raphinha and are readying a package worth €70 million to land the Brazilian international.

Raphinha’s transfer situation has been dominating the headlines over the past week. Barcelona have been hot on the trail of the 25-year-old for months now and have even agreed personal terms with the winger. However, their financial situation meant they were not in a position to meet Leeds’ asking price for their prized asset.

In the meantime, Chelsea swooped in and submitted a bid worth around £60 million, which Leeds United accepted, leaving Barcelona on the brink of missing out on Raphinha’s signing. The Blues have opened contract talks with the Brazilian and have tabled an offer worth €6 million per year to convince him to snub the Blaugrana.

However, Raphinha has his heart set on a summer move to Barcelona and is prepared to wait for the Catalans to come up with an offer that can convince Leeds United. It has left the door open for the Blaugrana to launch an eleventh-hour swoop to beat Chelsea to the signing of the Brazilian international.

? Raphinha despite the proposal of #Chelsea #Barcelona are convinced of being able to hijack the transfer. Raphinha has granted time to #Barça in order to introduce the final proposal to #Leeds (60M + 10M) #LUFC https://t.co/INKySpb7gT

— Gianluigi Longari (@Glongari) June 30, 2022

And Gianluigi Longari is now reporting that Barcelona are planning a final offer of €60 million, plus €10 million in add-ons, taking the total value of the proposal to €70 million.

While the Blaugrana were in no position to shell out that sum last week, things have changed in the past few days after they activated their first ‘economic lever’. Indeed, Barcelona have completed the sale of 10% of their TV rights to Sixth Street, which will see them generate a revenue of over €200 million, putting them in a position to bankroll a move for Raphinha.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Leeds United want to honour their agreement with Chelsea and have no intentions of accepting the offer from Barcelona. However, the Blaugrana are not planning on giving up their efforts to sign the 25-year-old until the last minute. With the winger also prepared to wait and see if a move to Camp Nou materialises, there could be more twists and turns in this saga in the coming days.