Leeds United journalist Phil Hay has been talking about the situation surrounding Raphinha and his contract at the club.
The 25-year-old Brazilian’s future at the club is somewhat in doubt right now. He is a highly sought-after individual, with reports over the past few months suggesting that Bayern Munich and Liverpool have both shown an interest in signing him, although more recent reports hint that Barcelona are the ones who stand the best chance of grabbing him this upcoming summer.
Despite that though, it appears as though there might be a chance for him to stay at Elland Road after all, as a report by David Anderson in The Mirror has claimed that Leeds “opened talks with his agent Deco just before Christmas” and that “Leeds’ director of football Victor Orta held a second round of talks with Deco earlier this year before they stalled”, although perhaps the biggest takeaway is that “Leeds are prepared to make Raphinha their best-paid player in the club’s history and the main sticking point is over his release clause.”
Speaking on the latest edition of The Phil Hay Show, Hay discussed the situation surrounding a release clause and a new contract, claiming that there is no release clause in his deal at the moment, but a new deal for him, as hinted by Anderson, could ultimately change things:
“If Leeds stay in the Premier League, then as the contract stands at the moment, there is no release clause. There would be in a new one, but it hasn’t been signed and it hasn’t been agreed. So that’s a kind of moot point.”
TIF Thoughts on Phil Hay’s comments about Raphinha and Leeds United…
Would you sell Raphina this summer?
Yes
No
Given that Leeds have got a reasonable chance of staying in the Premier League, with statistical data site FiveThirtyEight only giving them a 25% chance of the drop prior to the weekend’s games, it looks as if Raphinha, who has reportedly already agreed to terms with Barcelona, will go into the summer without a release clause, which means he may have to be forced to wait for the right offer to come in before Leeds can accept it.
If the two sides can come together and agree on a release clause, then at least it takes some of the waiting and possible impatience out of the matter, giving Barcelona, or indeed any club a clear target to work with when it comes to a possible transfer.
So judging by Hay’s words, it looks as if the two sides do have some sort of control on how his future could shape up, it’s just a matter of coming to a compromise on exactly what the terms of that would be.
In other news: ‘Important’ – Fabrizio Romano reveals big ‘information’ he’s ‘received’ about Leeds