Arsenal have made a player plus cash offer to Barcelona for winger Raphinha as Mikel Arteta looks to finally land the talented South American, according to reports in Spain via Football London.
The report claims that Arsenal have offered £30 million plus Eddie Nketiah for the Brazilian, although this is unlikely to be accepted, with the Catalan giants only interested in selling for straight cash, with no player exchanges involved.
Surprisingly, they don’t view Nketiah, who’s surplus to requirements at Arsenal, as the long-term successor to Robert Lewandowski as their number nine! Football London says Barca value Raphinha at around £42m, so Arsenal would need to increase their cash offer to get a deal done.
The Gunners, as well as Chelsea, both attempted to sign Raphinha from Leeds United in the summer of 2022, but he turned both down, opting to move to Barcelona for £55 million instead.
So, having reignited their interest, could we see Raphinha belatedly move to North London?
Will Raphinha leave Barcelona this summer?
Given their ongoing financial issues, Barcelona have to be open to selling basically any squad member, desperate not to lose young superstars such as Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí, so could Raphinha be sacrificed?
As reported by Laia Cervelló Herrero and Omar Garrick in the Athletic back in February, Barcelona’s wage bill will be slashed again ahead of the upcoming season, meaning they will struggle to register new players without sales being made first.
New head coach Hansi Flick ‘does not consider Raphinha to be untouchable at all’ while club president Joan Laporta ‘will consider all offers that come in for Raphinha’.
During his two seasons at Barça, the Brazilian has scored 20 goals in 89 appearances, but has failed to ever really nail down a starting spot and, with the rise of the aforementioned 16 year old sensation Lamine Yamal, this is only likely to continue to be the case.
Raphinha’s preference is to stay in Catalonia, but that decision may be taken out of his hands.
Would Raphinha be a good signing for Arsenal?
Considering Arsenal already have Bukayo Saka, it would be interesting if they allocated a large amount of resource to bringing in another left-footed right-winger Raphinha.
Of course, they do need a back-up to Saka, who played 3,865 minutes last season (82.1% of Arsenal’s total minutes), with Reiss Nelson his nominal deputy, but he saw a mere 641 minutes of action, starting only once in the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta has previously claimed he wants to add more ‘firepower’ to his squad, something Raphinha would certainly do, albeit at great financial expense.
