Chelsea have reportedly moved ahead in the race to sign Leeds United’s Raphinha. The two clubs are said to have agreed a deal, with Fabrizio Romano claiming it could be worth up to £65m for Leeds.
The Whites are understandably reluctant to see their star Brazilian leave Elland Road, but they will undoubtedly look to reinvest the money they receive for him in the best way possible over the coming weeks and months. It’s a move that may be hard to swallow for supporters, who have seen him excel in a United shirt over the last couple of seasons and his destination may only make things more difficult for supporters.
Leeds have an historic rivalry with Chelsea that stretches back to the 1960s and 70s when the two clubs were regularly in competition with each other at the top of the English game. As such, transfer activity between the two clubs has been extremely limited over the years.
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Of course, the likes of Vinnie Jones, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Patrick Bamford have played for both clubs, but the path between Elland Road and Stamford Bridge isn’t exactly well trodden. In fact, if Raphinha were to move to west London, he would be the first senior Leeds player to make such a switch.
A handful of players have gone the other way, from Chelsea to Leeds, with Tony Dorigo arguably being the most prominent. The defender had four seasons with Chelsea before moving to West Yorkshire for a fee of £1.3million in 1991.
Dorigo would go onto become a legend with Leeds after helping the club to the First Division crown during his first season at the club. He made 171 appearances for the Whites before leaving in 1997 to join Torino.
Michael Duberry is another ex-Leeds player signed from Chelsea and he spent a little over five years at the club after joining in 1999, making 75 appearances in all competitions and taking in some of the club’s highest and lowest moments before leaving in 2004.
Danny Granville, Jody Morris and Neil Sullivan were the only previous examples of permanent deals between the two clubs for players before Lewis Bate made the move last summer to link up with Leeds’ under-23s. Lewis Baker, Jamal Blackman and Izzy Brown all joined Leeds on a loan basis in 2018.
Raphinha may end up being a trailblazer, but there was a controversial case back in 2006 as Chelsea were accused of poaching two of Leeds’ brightest young academy players Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods. Ken Bates, Leeds chairman at the time, suggested the Blues had broken rules regarding the recruitment of young players, saying the players had been tapped-up.
Bates also claimed that Chelsea tried to take Danny Rose from Elland Road, too, only for the full-back to turn down their approaches. The chairman originally called for Chelsea to be punished by being deducted points, thrown out of competitions or given a transfer ban.
However, the two clubs agreed a settlement fee that saw Leeds withdraw their complaint and Chelsea make no admission of liability. Bates is himself a fine example of personnel who have been involved at Leeds and Chelsea, having owned both clubs.
Raphinha’s transfer to west London is far from completed at the time being and with Arsenal, Newcastle United, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur all being linked, there could be another twist in this tale yet. However, if he were to join up with Thomas Tuchel’s side, he would be making history by crossing the divide.
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