Chelsea, Leeds United ‘close’ to agreeing £55m transfer for Raphinha — reports

All focus has been on Raheem Sterling (and Ousmane Dembélé), but here comes Todd Boehly out of left field (yes, that’s a baseball joke)! According to reports from the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Athletic, Chelsea are “close” and “increasingly confident” of reaching a final agreement to acquire Brazil international winger Raphinha from Leeds United.

The 25-year-old has been strongly linked with Arsenal, Tottenham, and Barcelona this summer, with his primary preference said to be the Blaugrana, but it’s the Blues who have broken through, and are set to close a deal in the region of £55-65m, depending on which source you believe.

Raphinha still has to be convinced to “snub” those other three and sign personal terms, but those surely won’t pose too big of a hurdle. It’s usually the transfer fee that’s the tougher part of any such endeavor.

Let’s do this!