Waiting continues for Raphinha’s future to be resolved as the endless merry-go-round of briefings from his various suitors leads to little substance. Arsenal remain the only club to have put a formal bid on the table and that was so low it was rejected out of hand.
Whatever the noises coming from Emirates Stadium, Stamford Bridge or Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Barcelona always seems to shake out as the one the Brazilian is waiting for. How long does he wait, though?
The Leeds employee is expected to report for duty in less than a week in West Yorkshire. If he does not want to begin pre-season with the Whites before leaving, Deco has a major job on his hands to get this one over the line.
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Whatever the confidence about this transfer within the Catalonian seat of power shared by Joan Laporta and Deco, cold, hard cash is the only thing getting the winger out of Elland Road. All of the talking can simply go away as soon as the La Liga giants meet United’s valuation.
If they don’t and if the London clubs fail to cough up either, Raphinha’s going to be modelling the club’s new navy and orange (insert Adidas’s designated colour names here) training kit before he knows it. There’s an even starker deadline on the horizon too.
The Whites are set to fly out to Australia at the back end of the second week in July. If Raphinha, no stranger to long-haul flights, does not fancy the best part of 24 hours travelling in the air to the other side of the world with a club he has no long-term plans for, then he has less than two weeks to get this move done.
Jesse Marsch and United expect the Brazilian to be present and correct for that tour Down Under if he remains their player on that date. The trip there does not of course then preclude clubs from bidding while he is away, but that distance from Europe will hardly aid a swift transfer.
The wider question is how much of a vital and shortened pre-season does Raphinha really want to spend with a club he does not see a long-term future with? Travelling to and from Australia not only adds distance, but takes out two full days with time in the air alone.
The clock continues to tick, but sooner rather than later, Raphinha needs to click back into Leeds mode.
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