Chelsea have reached an agreement with Leeds United to sign their forward Raphinha for £65million. The club is negotiating personal terms with the player and his agent to find an agreement.
Raphinha is one of the players high on Chelsea’s list and Todd Boehly would want to wrap up a deal. Deco, who is a former Chelsea player, is the agent for the player and it is reported that he is in negotiations with the club to ensure his client joins.
Several teams were involved to get the signature of the player. Last week, Arsenal saw their £45million bid for the player rejected as Leeds think it is not enough. Arsenal continued negotiations with Leeds until yesterday where Chelsea, out of nowhere, submitted a bid of £65million to the club. Leeds quickly accepted the offer and gave Chelsea the green light to negotiate personal terms with the player.
Barcelona have been a long time admirer of the player as they would have preferred to bring him to the club. However, the club has not been able to raise enough money to meet the demands of Leeds United. They met with his agent Deco, and had a proposal on personal terms almost sorted but they could not reach an agreement with his club, Leeds United.
Chelsea are already planning to submit a second bid to Manchester City for their winger Raheem Sterling. Todd Boehly wants to wrap up all the targets for his manager Thomas Tuchel quickly, before the club begins their pre-season.
Player Profile
Raphinha Dias Belloli was born on 14 December, 1996. He was born in Porto Alegre in Brazil. Raphinha started his youth career at Imbituba after unsuccessful trials with International and Gremio. He was later scouted by Avai. At age 18, Raphinha started his career with Avai’s under-20 team in the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A in 2014.
In 2 February 2016, Raphinha signed for Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes, having been scouted at the Copa São Paulo de Futebol junior be Deco, who signed him to his agency D20 sports
In May 2018, he was transferred to Portuguese side Sporting CP until 2019. He made his debut on 12 August against Moreirense. He scored his first goal for the club on 20 September 2018, against FK Qarabag in the 2-0 win in the Europa League.
He joined French side Rennes in 2019, with a transfer fee around €21million, becoming the club’s record signing. He scored eight goals and assisted seven times during his time at the club, where he helped Rennes to a third place finish and qualify for the 2020-2021 UEFA Champions League.
On 5 October 2020, he joined Leeds United on four-year contract for a reported transfer fee of €20million.
2021–22 season
Raphinha scored his first goal of the season on 21 August 2021, in Leeds’ first home game, a low-struck 72nd-minute equaliser from just inside the penalty area, in a 2–2 result against Everton, which was nominated as one of the Premier League’s Goals of the Month for August.
Raphinha ended the season as Leeds’ top goalscorer with 11 goals, including the first goal of the game in the 2–1 away win against Brentford in the last day of the season, from the penalty spot after being fouled by the Brentford goalkeeper David Raya, confirming Leeds’ Premier League status. He also provided three assists. He played a total of 35 matches and started in 34 of them.
