Leeds United fans may have to face a devastating £67 million transfer involving one of their most beloved former players and their most hated rivals.
It was reported recently that former Leeds United star Raphinha was subject to interest from Arsenal, Newcastle and Chelsea having been linked with a move to Liverpool in the past. Now at Barcelona, he has been linked with a move to Manchester United with United willing to surpass the £42 million interest from Arsenal and co, and bid as much as £67 million.
However, since Raphinha moved to Barcelona, the Catalan club have owed money to Leeds for the move which is still as much as £35 million according to Football Insider.
But what is Leeds’ stance on the money?
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Leeds United Raphinha stance revealed
According to finance expert Stefan Borson, who spoke with Football Insider, the club are not worried about the money having secured the money through a finance company who are now the ones chasing the money from Barca.
He explained: “Barcelona are financially troubled at the moment and, therefore, in terms of the way they have been doing deals for players over the last few years, they wanted to pay on a delayed basis.
“It is common, but I think the extent of it with Barcelona is slightly unusual, and it’s not just Ferran Torres.
“Torres is a player who signed in January 2022 and they still owe €26milllion (£22million), which I think is about half the fee, so they have been paying slowly.
“If you look at a player that was signed at the end of that season in Raphinha, they don’t really start paying Raphinha’s fee to Leeds until the year commencing 30 June 2025.
“They only pay €560,000 (£466,000) in the year now from 30 June 2024 to 30 June 2025, whereas next year they owe €42million (£35million).
“Leeds don’t care because Leeds have factored their right to collect that money to a finance company, which effectively means Leeds got the money upfront and it’s the finance companies’ receivable from Barcelona to worry about.
“Leeds have got their money, but it just shows that Barcelona wanted these players but couldn’t pay for them, so they had to push out the obligation to move the payment as far as possible.”
