Premier League side Aston Villa are amongst a host of clubs who have wanted to sign Raphinha from FC Barcelona but according to some recent reports, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo, the Villa Park outfit are longer interested in the 27-year-old.
Barcelona wish to bag around €60-70 million for the Brazilian international but Aston Villa feel this amount is too steep as they do not wish to spend so much on one single player right now. Villa have a significantly bigger transfer budget this summer because they will be playing in the Champions League but Unai Emery has to reinforce several other positions as well so it’s totally understandable why he does not want to spend so much on Raphinha.
With Aston Villa seemingly out of the picture, it leaves Arsenal and Chelsea as the two major admirers for the Barca winger. Newcastle United have also been linked with the winger but we don’t think the Magpies are in the right financial position to be able to sign Raphinha.
Is Raphinha going to join Arsenal or Chelsea?
With Lamine Yamal shaping up to become the next major superstar for Barcelona, Hansi Flick is more than willing to cash in on Raphinha so Deco and Laporta will happily send him packing if a club is willing to meet their financial demands.
The 27-year-old is currently valued at €50 million and since his contract runs until 2027, Barca are very much within their right to quote around €70 million.
Arsenal and Chelsea won’t mind paying €60-70 million for a talent like Raphinha and even though the winger is prepared to return to the Premier League, we doubt he will want to join the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta currently has Bukayo Saka as his primary right-winger so if Raphinha joins them he will have to compete with the England international for a regular playing spot. Saka is one of the top players at Arsenal and it will be very hard for Arteta to drop him to the bench to accommodate the Barcelona winger.
Chelsea provides a much better option for Raphinha because currently, Noni Madueke is the only senior right winger in the squad. Enzo Maresca will be more than happy to make the Barcelona man his first-choice right-winger next season and if given a guarantee of regular playing time, Raphinha won’t mind leaving Camp Nou.
Raphinha is very much familiar with life in England because he spent two years with Leeds United where he made 29 goal contributions in just 65 Premier League matches. Also, since joining Barca for €58 million in 2022, the winger has scored 13 and assisted 16 goals in 64 league matches in Spain.
