Chelsea gatecrash Arsenal’s bid to sign Raphinha and agree £60m deal for Leeds winger, with player’s agent and ex-Blues star Deco at the heart of talks as they usurp London rivals at the 11th hour
- Chelsea have made an offer of £60million for Leeds United winger Raphinha
- Arsenal held talks with Leeds after their initial offer for Raphinha was rejected
- The 25-year-old now seems set to move to Stamford Bridge this summer
- Chelsea also want to sign winger Raheem Sterling from Manchester City
Chelsea on Tuesday gatecrashed Arsenal’s bid to sign Raphinha from Leeds United with a £60million offer.
Talks are advancing after Leeds accepted a bid of £55m plus add-ons with former Chelsea midfielder Deco, Raphinha’s agent, at the heart of negotiations.
On a frantic day, Arsenal held talks with Leeds after their initial offer of £30m plus add-ons was rejected last week and put forward a new proposal but they did not come close to Chelsea’s offer and the Brazilian winger is now poised to move to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea plan to team Raphinha with Raheem Sterling in a new-look strikeforce as they continue parallel discussions with Manchester City over a £55m deal for the England international.
Chelsea look set to sign Raphinha after making an offer of £60million for the Leeds winger
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is eager to add to his team’s attacking options this summer
Chelsea had first posted interest in Raphinha back in January but had expected the 25-year-old to join Barcelona. However, when it became apparent that he was considering a move to Arsenal, Chelsea’s new American owner Todd Boehly moved clinically to put his club in a commanding position.
Personal terms still need to be thrashed out, but that is not expected to be an issue.
The decisive move came as record signing Romelu Lukaku flew out to Italy on Tuesday night ahead of his scheduled medical with Inter Milan on Wednesday morning.
Talks are also ongoing with Juventus who are interested in taking either Christian Pulisic or Timo Werner as part of a deal for Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal held talks with Leeds after their initial offer for Raphinha was rejected
Former Chelsea midfielder Deco is…