Barcelona have made a first offer to Leeds United in an attempt to sign reported Liverpool transfer target Raphinha.
According to Sport, the Spanish club have made an opening offer of £29m to try to secure the Brazilian.
The report also claims that Barca are ‘aware’ that both Liverpool and Bayern Munich are ‘interested’ in scuppering their attempts to sign the 25-year-old.
But Sport claim that the Catalan giants’ bid has seen them ‘take the lead’ in the race for Raphinha’s signature.
Surprisingly low
Barca may have trumped their rivals in making first contact with Leeds. But it’s unlikely to matter much given the nature of the offer.
Fabrizio Romano previously reported that Leeds were quoting Liverpool more than £60m for Raphinha last summer (Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE 17mins 17 secs). As a result, Barca’s reported offer would surely be seen as being insultingly low.
Raphinha may not be worth upwards of £60m, but he’s surely worth more than the reported £29m that Barca are willing to part with.
Of course, if Sport are correct, the offer is merely Barcelona’s opening gambit.
It seems a stretch for Leeds to expect the kind of money they were looking for last summer. But a fee somewhere in-between that and Xavi’s initial bid would seem like a fair price.
£45m for a player who has nine Premier League goals in a struggling team and is starring for Brazil sounds about fair.
He has been unplayable at times this season and was recently called ‘unbelievable’ by Paul Merson via Sky Sports.
But as Leeds’ struggles have deepened, Raphinha’s influence has waned. Liverpool are as meticulous as a club can be in the transfer market and the player’s difficult second half of the season won’t have gone unnoticed.
But if The Reds really are to rival Barca in signing the winger, they may be as well matching this slightly paltry first offer.
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