Fabrizio Romano is back with another exclusive transfer news column for CaughtOffside, with updates on the latest big sagas involving Raphinha, Richarlison, Declan Rice and Lisandro Martinez. There’s also insight on Gabriel Jesus: when his move to Arsenal could be made official, and how they beat their rivals to his signature.
I wrote recently that the Raphinha saga was proving one of the craziest I’ve reported on, and it’s still very much up in the air as Chelsea, Arsenal and Barcelona chase the Brazilian.
One significant update is that Chelsea have reached an agreement with the Leeds board on Tuesday evening for Raphinha. The two clubs have negotiated a £60/65m fee, add-ons included.
From that moment, negotiations began with his Deco agent for personal terms; until Wednesday evening, no official response has arrived but the negotiation continues. This is because his agent Deco has met Barcelona who have had an agreement on Raphinha’s personal terms since last March, but have not yet made a fresh bid at Leeds.
Certainly, Barcelona and Arsenal will try until the last minute to get this deal done, so they can’t be ruled out of the running just yet. Chelsea will have a fresh contact with Deco today to try to understand the situation.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to predict a deal so “dangerous” for three clubs included: anything can always happen right up to the end. All we can be sure of is that whoever wins the race for Raphinha will be getting a top player – I think he’s shown at Leeds that he’s ready for a big move, and to impact games at the highest level.
Tottenham were also interested in Raphinha, but are now focused on the Richarlison deal, after having agreed personal terms with the Everton striker – more on that and two other potential Spurs deals below.
We could soon see three big signings coming in at Tottenham, who are continuing to show great ambition in this transfer window.
Tottenham are working on Clement Lenglet and Richarlison deals to get both done as soon as possible. Fabio Paratici wants to make Antonio Conte happy with as many signings as possible before the pre-season tour. We know Conte is a demanding manager when it comes to the transfer market, but so far so good as it looks like the set-up at Spurs is delivering him the kind of players he wants.
Right-back is another of the club’s priorities, and I can reveal that the Djed Spence deal has never collapsed…
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