Leeds United confirmed on Saturday afternoon that winger Raphinha will not be in the squad to travel to Australia for the start of their pre-season tour.
Despite the doubt over his next destination, the 25-year-old is not going to remain a Leeds player beyond this window. As reported by Ben Jacobs from CBS after this news broke, Barcelona still do not have an accepted offer from the Premier League club but are in an advanced talks.
Barca have matched Chelsea's original £55m fee which the West Yorkshire club accepted over a week ago before the Spanish club reemerged with confidence they could hijack a move to Stamford Bridge.
READ MORE: Chelsea and Arsenal alerted to final Raphinha transfer deadline amid £65m Barcelona ultimatum
However, Jacobs states that although the overall package matches the Blues' offer, the guaranteed fee is less than Chelsea's proposed figure for the attacker. Raphinha and his agent Deco are getting frustrated with Barcelona's inability to close a deal, which means that should Leeds end negotiations with them, Chelsea will come back into the race and that the winger would be open to signing.
The Blues travelled to the USA on Saturday for the start of pre-season with hopes that new additions will join over the next week for Thomas Tuchel.
Along with Raphinha, Cristiano Ronaldo has been linked over the past week as a possible option after the legendary forward told Manchester United he wants to leave the club this window and his agent held a meeting with Todd Boehly.
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