sport news Raphinha is this summer's hottest property with Leeds set to smash their ... trends now
Brazil head coach Tite admitted his surprise when his technical experts recommended a closer look at Raphinha.
The winger was performing with style in his first season at Leeds but the world is scattered with brilliant Brazilian footballers and it is impossible to be across them all as form flickers and fades.
‘I said, “There’s a lot of things to see here and you’re going to bring me Raphinha?”,’ Tite recalled recently on the Podpah podcast.
Raphinha appears to be this summer's hottest property as clubs battle for his signature
Brazil boss Tite has admitted to being surprised by Raphinha when he first called him up
‘Then we followed up on his games and had conversations with (ex-Leeds boss) Marcelo Bielsa and previous coaches at his clubs. Raphinha was a surprise to me.’
He is a surprise no more. Raphinha has been a regular in Tite’s squad for a year, a certainty for the World Cup if fit and one of the hottest properties in the summer transfer market.
The feeling in May, as he made a lingering farewell to Elland Road, was that he was destined for Barcelona, a natural replacement for Ousmane Dembele, who was at the end of his contract and heading for the Nou Camp exit.
There had been a feeling in May that Raphinha was destined for Barcelona but that's gone cold
Raphinha is represented by Deco, the former Barcelona and Portugal midfield idol who retains strong links at his former club and was pictured this week with Barca’s newly re-elected president Joan Laporta.
Laporta was in charge when Deco signed in 2004 but Barcelona remain mired in financial problems and, earlier this week, former director Toni Freixa accused the new regime of ‘selling smoke’ to supporters with the fanciful pursuit of star players such as Raphinha, Bernardo Silva and Robert Lewandowski.
Raphinha would prefer a move to Barcelona but also favours a swift conclusion, rather than extended uncertainty, and the delay has encouraged three Premier League clubs to try to steal the initiative.
Barcelona's continuing financial woes mean Raphinha's move to the Nou Camp is not as certain as it once was
Arsenal, with their strong Brazilian connections, have a long-standing interest and are thought to have made an opening bid well short of the £65million asking price for a player Leeds signed two years ago for
