Barcelona to make €70 million offer for Raphinha -report

Barcelona are hoping to beat Chelsea to the signing of Brazilian winger Raphinha by making Leeds a huge bid for the forward.

The Times are reporting that Barca “are ready to make an offer worth up to £60 million” after their “financial position altered dramatically” on Thursday.

The Catalans announced earlier in the day they had agreed a deal with Sixth Street to sell 10% of their television rights for €207.5 million.

Barcelona will now offer “an initial payement of €60m with a further €10m to follow in add-ons,” according to the report. The Catalans are hoping Leeds will agree to the deal and know already that Raphinha would prefer a move to the Camp Nou.

However, it may not be as simple as that. Fabrizio Romano reckons Leeds will reject Barcelona’s bid and are hoping Raphinha accepts Chelsea’s offer.

The race to land Raphinha is certainly hotting up. Arsenal made the first move with a bid of £35m which was blown out of the water by Chelsea. The Blues met Leeds’ asking price of £55m and looked set to clinch the attacker.

However, Barcelona’s late move has seen the transfer saga take another twist. Raphinha is due back for pre-season training next week and wants his future resolved before the team head off to Australia.