Why Raphinha chose Barcelona over Chelsea

Leeds United star and Brazil international was Raphinha was one of Chelsea’s targets this summer but he opted for a move to Spanish club Barcelona.

However, Leeds manager, Jesse Marsch, in a statement gave reasons why Raphinha insisted on moving to Camp Nou.

Aside from Chelsea, Arsenal were also interested in the Brazilian.

Chelsea saw their £60 million bid accepted by Leeds United for Raphinha, however, the player chose to wait for Barcelona to submit a bid.

As of now, Leeds have reached an agreement with the Spanish giants on an initial £49m fee, which could rise to £55m with add-ons.

“There’s been distinct movement with Barcelona and we think that things will move along in the next day or two, but it’s certainly not finished yet,” Marsch said while on Leeds’ tour of Australia.

“As much as it’s really hard to lose Raphinha I’ll say this. If you think about a young man that was pretty much guaranteed to go on a reduced transfer fee to Barcelona if we were relegated, and then you watch the performances he had to make sure the club was going to stay up, it would be hard for any 25-year-old to do that.

“I’m hopeful for him to get this deal done because I know it’s his dream to play for Barcelona.”