FC Barcelona reached the beginnings of agreement with Leeds United for the signing of Brazilian wіпɡeг Raphinha, hijacking Chelsea’s Ьіd for the forwагd.

The player’s own desire to play for Barcelona has been key to the agreement.

Barcelona have agreed on a deal, in principle, with Leeds United to sign Raphinha for €60 million, reports Gerard Romero. The journalist claims that Barcelona’s sporting director Mateu Alemany flew to Leeds today to close the transfer.

The €60 millon still falls quite a bit short of Chelsea’s €70-75 million bid, but it seems Raphinha’s desire to move to Barcelona has helped the Lilywhites close the deal. He stopped any move to Chelsea and wanted to pursue his dream of playing for Barça.

His agent, Deco, was also working on pushing the move through even though Chelsea had a deal with Leeds.

Barcelona will not be able to send €60 million directly, and will pay it in three installments.

Raphinha will earn nearly €6 million net per year at Barcelona, which is also what Romero claims the Blaugrana management offered to Dembele in the last week along with €1.5 million in add-ons.