Liverpool have made a concrete enquiry about Raphinha, according to reports out of Brazil. The winger has a request of Leeds United.
This comes from UOL in Brazil. They claim that Liverpool are one of three clubs to have made a concrete move to sign Raphinha ahead of the summer.
The Reds appear to have asked what it would take, while the player’s situation at Leeds gets a little complicated. They want to sign Raphinha to a new contract, of course, and he’s willing – if they lower his release clause.
That’s an interesting request as his current clause stands at £70m. We can’t help but feel that lowering it would see a club trigger a transfer immediately.
Liverpool aren’t the only ones with interest here, after all. Barcelona and Bayern Muncih want Raphinha, too, and appear to have made the same enquiries.
This one promises to get interesting over the coming months, then.
Liverpool make Raphinha enquiry
It’s worth mentioning some other reports on this. Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg doesn’t believe Bayern will move for Raphinha, for instance. Sport, however, claim things are getting quite advanced with Barcelona.
In other words, this one isn’t clear-cut. We’d be quite surprised if Barcelona were competitive on this one, though, unless they’ve already decided to move on from Adama Traore.
As for Liverpool, the Reds don’t have an obvious spot for Raphinha, either. There are currently five elite forwards at the club – four of which are wingers – and we’re not sure that justifies a major transfer.
Now, if someone were to leave, Raphinha should be near the top of the shortlist to replace them. But as things stand, it’s just hard to see Liverpool deciding that another top-class winger is their immediate concern.
Still, we’d hardly complain if it were. Raphinha is an ‘unbelievable’ player (in the words of Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier) and one who would add even more quality to Jurgen Klopp’s squad. Let’s see what happens.
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