Barcelona and Leeds have come to an agreement for the transfer of Raphinha, with the English club finally accepting the Catalan side’s proposals.
Talks stalled for several days as the Premier League side awaited an official offer from the Blaugrana and sought payment guarantees before accepting the offer.
The Blaugrana were preparing an offer estimated at €55m plus a further €20m in performance add-ons, putting the Catalan club’s bid in a similar ballpark to what Leeds had on the table from the likes of Chelsea.
Negotiations have already taken place between Leeds and Barcelona to arrive at these figures, but then Barcelona must finalize the details of the variables and make their offer official, which they have now done.
How Barcelona structures these variables will be key to the success of the deal, however, the payment schedule for the guaranteed portion is just as important.
Well aware of Barcelona’s financial problems, the English club acted cautiously and wanted to see guarantees that the club could meet the proposed three installment plan on time. Now we can assume that they had these guarantees.
The Blaugrana are still in talks to sell 15 percent of their TV rights, which could free up around €400 million. Achieving this is an urgent priority, especially as the transfer market won’t wait for them to be ready.
Meanwhile, Raphinha was in London waiting for the two clubs to come to an agreement. Due to heavy interest in him from both Barcelona and Chelsea, the player did not travel with the rest of the Leeds squad on their pre-season tour of Australia.
Raphinha, 25, began his career with Avai in Brazil before moving to Europe at the age of 19 to join Vitoria Guimaraes. He played for Sporting CP and Rennes before joining Leeds in 2015.
The winger scored 11 goals in 35 Premier League games last season. He also has nine caps for Brazil, scoring three times.
Now his move to Barcelona is approaching.
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