The summer of 2022 was the start of Leeds United’s downfall after Premier League survival under Jesse Marsch had been obtained, just. But it all went downhill after that point.
Leeds made some woeful signings as the board backed their new manager. In came a handful of his old players, like Brenden Aaronson, Tyler Adams, Rasmus Kristensen as well as Marc Roca and Luis Sinisterra.
Other than Aaronson, they have all left. The signings flopped, Marsch’s tactics were woeful and as Sam Allardyce said the squad’s fitness had been “completely destroyed” under Marsch and then Javi Gracia.
But another reason can be identified as a part of Leeds’ downfall from the summer of 2022 onwards and that was the sale of both Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha, with the latter going on to shine at Barcelona.
Raphinha rejects incredible offer to remain at Barcelona
The 27-year-old got off to a rocky start at the Nou Camp, struggling to find consistency as Xavi constantly changed his side. But he still had a hand in 22 goals in his first season, and then 23 in his second season.
Already this time around, the Brazil star has scored three goals and laid on three more in four Barcelona games. A man in-form, winger Raphinha as the subject of interest from the Middle East in the summer.
Spanish outlet SPORT say that Neymar’s Al-Ahli actually tabled a whopping £85m bid to sign Raphinha in the window just gone and were willing to pay £400,000 a week for four years. But Raphinha rejected it.
Barcelona were willing to accept massive Raphinha offer
Al-Ahli’s offer met Barcelona’s asking price. They would have made a profit of around £30m on the player they bought from Leeds and Raphinha himself, as per the report, would have quadrupled his wages.
In terms of Barcelona’s questionable coffers, a huge amount of cash they could have used to resolve their financial issues. A good move for Financial Fairplay too given it would have been a profit on Raphinha.
But now, the chances of Barcelona selling Raphinha seem small given his stunning start to life under new manager Hansi Flick. Instead, they may decide to try and renew his contract with three years left to run.
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