Newcastle United and Chelsea are two clubs looking to bring Brazilian forward Raphinha back to the Premier League just one season after he left for Barcelona. Now Fabrizio Romano has shared an update on the situation.
Life at Barcelona didn’t get off to the best of starts for Raphinha after he secured his dream move in the summer. The 26-year-old was initially unhappy with the role given to him by Xavi and he struggled for form. Things have started to pick up for the former Leeds United man recently and his form has improved as is now a regular starter.
Romano believes Raphinha is happy at Barcelona
It’s with this in mind that transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has come out and said in his daily report for CaughtOffside: “There are some reports circulating about Chelsea and Newcastle wanting to sign Raphinha.
“I’m sure Barcelona are very happy with Raphinha, so, again, let’s see what happens with Financial Fair Play but Barca want to trust Raphinha for present and future and he loves the club.”
The comment regarding FFP suggests that Raphinha staying at Barcelona beyond the summer is certainly not a given. The Spanish club found themselves in a lot of hot water at the start of the year when they were slapped with a fine for breaching FFP rules.
The summer had football fans scratching their heads as Barcelona went on a spending spree despite it being public knowledge that they were suffering massively financially. It was reported that they had £1billion debt and were struggling to register their new signings, yet kept signing more.
FFP might actually prove to work in Newcastle’s favour this time
Newcastle and Chelsea, then, will feel like they can still land the Brazilian forward described by Kalvin Phillips as ‘unbelievable‘ despite his upturn in fortunes.
It’s believed that Barcelona would want to at least recoup the £55million they spent on Raphinha so negotiations between the clubs will likely have to start around that level.
For £55million I’d certainly have Raphinha at Newcastle. He almost single-handedly made Leeds look good when he was there. As fantastic as Miguel Almiron has been this season, Raphinha would be a step up in terms of quality and would offer us much more going forward.