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Barcelona have made a final offer worth £47 million for Leeds United winger Raphinha.
The 25-year old Brazilian has been the subject of a transfer battle this summer, and seemed to be close to joining Arsenal, before Chelsea gazumped their bid.
However, his preference always had been to join Barcelona, although their financial constraints made any deal difficult.
Now they have offered the maximum they can afford to pay, which is stil some way below what Chelsea have offered for his services.
Given that he still has two years left on his current contract at Elland Road, Leeds are under no obligation to sell him, and they will certainly not be inclined to accept a lower offer just to meet the player’s wishes.
It now looks increasingly likely that he will end up at Stamford Bridge next season and join Raheem Sterling in a newly constituted attacking line under Thomas Tuchel.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.