Barcelona ‘absolutely ready’ to sign Leeds United winger Raphinha despite needing €500m to save club - Leeds Live 12/6/22
The Spanish club are reportedly expecting a 'calm negotiation' with the Whites
Barcelona are reportedly ‘absolutely ready’ to sign Leeds
United winger Raphinha come the start of July, according to reports, despite
needing €500 million to save the club from financial collapse. The Catalan
giants have made Raphinha their priority target this summer and have already
courted the Brazilian, but face stiff resistance in West Yorkshire in the hunt
for a deal.
The 25-year-old is contracted at Elland Road until 2024 and
Leeds have set their stall out with a price tag of around £60-70 million paid
upfront. Premier League survival ended Barcelona’s hope of a £25 million
release clause and the Whites hierarchy won’t listen to any talk of instalments
over the course of a contract.
Barcelona’s financial situation has been well-documented, with
the Spanish side having to cut wages of their core players last summer in order
to bring in free transfers such as Ferran Torres from Manchester City - they
also lost Lionel Messi on a free after being unable to afford to re-sign him.
But despite all of the above, Spanish daily Sport have
claimed that Xavi’s side are well positioned to sign the Whites talisman this
summer, and are just waiting to see if Ousmane Dembele leaves the club come the
end of his contract on June 30. The paper also stated that Barcelona expect a
‘calm negotiation’ with the Whites.
How they plan to afford the former Rennes man - who arrived
at Elland Road for just £17 million - remains to be seen, with vice president
of Eduard Romeu confessing on Thursday that the club will need to raise
half-a-billion euros to merely survive.
“The number doing the most damage is asset imbalance,” Romeu
told Sport . “The negative capital of €500 million. I said it before, if
someone wants give me €500 million...that is what we need to save Barca.”
Barcelona have also told Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski
that they plan to bring him to the Nou Camp, while Angel Di Maria and Whites
target Marc Roca have also been targeted.