Leeds United are likely to have a struggle on their hands with Raphinha interested in a summer move to Barcelona.
Transfer insider Dean Jones has been speaking about the Brazilian’s future at Elland Road on the latest episode of the Touchline Talk show.
Can Leeds keep Raphinha at Elland Road this summer?
Yes
No
Reports have been linking the winger with a possible move away from Elland Road for months now with Bayern Munich previously credited with interest ahead of the January window.
However, it appears Barcelona are now the leading candidate to land the 25-year-old this summer amid the Whites’ struggles in the Premier League.
With Jesse Marsch’s men at risk of seeing themselves slip back into the Championship, Jones was not able to provide fans with much optimism over the future of this season’s top scorer:
“I mean, they really are up against it to keep Raphinha at this point. Obviously, their only chance to keep him is to stay up. So they’ve got a fight on their hands as we as we all know to do that.”
“Raphinha obviously is going to be interested in going to Barcelona, who wouldn’t be? He’s the sort of footballer that the Camp Nou would welcome. He would fit in brilliantly to La Liga, he’d rinse defenders, he’d score a load of goals, it’d be a perfect platform for him too.”
TIF Thoughts on Jones’ comments…
The Whites currently have injuries to Stuart Dallas and Liam Cooper to worry about, so hearing that Raphinha’s future is on the line certainly won’t help.
This will likely not come to the surprise of many fans after what has been a dismal campaign in the top flight to date and could still end in disaster.
And the sale of Raphinha would certainly be a sucker punch which would only be made worse if Barcelona were able to snap the winger up for as little as the reported £25m.
We don’t think many fans would begrudge Raphinha of leaving at the end of the season having impressed this season, however, failing to cash in big on the talent would feel like a real blow.
In other news: ‘Can’t believe our luck’ – Leeds journalist stunned by what he’s read ahead of Sunday