Newcastle United reportedly interested in Barcelona’s Raphinha

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Reports in Spain suggest that Newcastle United could be looking to bring back Raphinha to the Premier League after his move to Barcelona hasn’t gone according to plan.

Raphinha’s dream move has become more like a nightmare

Spanish outlet, Fichajes, believes that the former Leeds United attacker would be an ideal signing for Newcastle.

Brazilian attacker Raphinha was such a dominant force for Leeds United last term, helping the Yorkshire club to consolidate their Premier League place and looking excellent while doing it. It was inevitable, then, that Leeds would struggle to keep hold of their biggest star when the transfer window opened in the summer.

A £55m bid from Spanish giants Barcelona was what it took to prise Raphinha away from Elland Road, and Leeds haven’t looked the same since.

We are now past the halfway point of the season and Leeds fans are still in mourning the loss of their Brazilian ace who Kalvin Phillips once called ‘unbelievable‘.

To make matters worse, Raphinha has struggled since he made the switch to the Catalan club, meaning his move weakened Leeds, but has done little to improve Barcelona.

Despite registering nine assists and seven goals in 34 appearances in all competitions this season, Barcelona are said to be unhappy with the Brazilian’s performances. The report in Fichajes saying: “The Brazilian was the most expensive signing in the summer transfer window for FC Barcelona and his performance has not been as expected.”

Raphinha turned down Newcastle in the summer

It’s not the first time the Brazilian has been linked with Newcastle, having allegedly turned down a move to Tyneside before making the switch to Barcelona.

There’s no indication in the report of what it could potentially cost us if Eddie Howe were to make an approach, but after just one season and such a big outlay, you’d expect that Barcelona would be looking to recoup as much of that £55m fee as they can.

A three-pronged Brazilian attack at Newcastle with Raphinha supported by Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes would be a spectacular sight to behold and a realistic possibility too. He turned us down once, but he may well be regretting that now given how things have turned out.