In a recent post on Twitter, Guillem Balague has claimed that Leeds United’s deal for Stade Rennais winger Raphinha is done.
Since joining Stade Rennais from Sporting CP in what was a £20.7 million deal last year, Raphinha has gone on to feature 36 times for the Ligue 1 side, scoring eight goals and providing seven assists along the way.
Last season, the £14.4 million-rated 23-year-old scored five goals and provided three assists over his 22 appearances in the French top flight, averaging a highly impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.13/10 – ranking him as the club’s second-best performer in the league.
So far this term, the Brazilian already has one goal and two assists to his name across six appearances in Ligue 1, averaging a WhoScored match rating of 7.15 over those fixtures.
However, it would appear that the winger could be about to leave Rennes, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side said to be interested in bringing the player to the Premier League prior to the 11pm transfer deadline on Monday evening.
Following a tweet by the journalist regarding Leeds’ potential deal for Raphinha, a fan asked the Spaniard if the move was a done deal, to which the journalist then quote-tweeted with the reply, “Yes”.
Do you think Raphinha will be a good signing for Leeds?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
From Balague’s response, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Leeds’ move for Raphinha is indeed a done deal, which would make the 23-year-old the club’s fifth major signing of the summer transfer window, having already spent around £73 million on incoming transfers since their promotion to the Premier League last season.
As such, if Balague is to be believed, we expect to see confirmation from the club that the deal has been completed in the very near future.