Rumours have swirled around Leeds United's Raphinha ever since the very early stages of this season. In fact, they began last summer as Liverpool were said to have an interest in the Brazilian after a strong debut campaign in the Premier League. However, the Whites were never going to sell their star winger after one season.
This term, Leeds have gone backwards as a team and have never managed to truly pull away from the relegation zone. Wins in the last two games brought a big step towards safety, however it appears clear that Raphinha is capable of playing for a Champions League team. Meanwhile the Whites' most realistic hope for next season would be a season in mid-table.
As such, there is a growing sense that the Brazilian's exit is inevitable. In recent days, Barcelona have emerged as favourites to sign Raphinha, with prominent journalists sharing daily updates over the state of negotiations between the player's agent, Deco and the Blaugrana.
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One update which came on Sunday stated that an offer from Barcelona could include 22-year-old defender, Oscar Mingueza as a way of bringing the potential fee down. It's well known that the Catalan club have suffered from huge financial losses in recent seasons and the kind of fee which Leeds will want for their biggest asset could be a problem for the potential buyers.
Considering Leeds' struggles in the Premier League this season - and with the squad beginning to show real signs of aging - Victor Orta has a crucial summer ahead of him when he will need to make several signings to refresh the first team. With that in mind, accepting a part-exchange for Raphinha seems a sub-optimal choice.
Mingueza is a good young player. He is capped by Spain already and has played 61 times for the Catalan club since making his debut last season. However, he is primarily a centre back or a defensive right back.
The Whites require their right back to cover a lot of ground on the wing, rather than holding position as Mingueza does and they already have multiple options capable of playing centre back. As such, he just isn't needed in Jesse Marsch's squad for next season.
It's expected that Leeds will go back for Brenden Aaronson, the man they made multiple bids of over £20million for in January. One would expect a similar sized fee will be required to bring in a central midfielder since they haven't signed a midfielder permanently since Adam Forshaw arrived in January 2018. Meanwhile, arguments can be made that Leeds require a young player to compete with Junior Firpo at left back and may want to bring in a player of similar profile to take over from Luke Ayling, who will be 31 next season. A striker should also be a priority as Leeds have badly struggled when Patrick Bamford has been absent this season.
All of that transfer business will require funding. Leeds' board have managed to find a lot of cash since the club were promoted to the Premier League in 19/20. In the two summers since, they have spent almost £150million according to Transfermarkt.
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It seems unlikely that Leeds can go on spending the amount of cash they have done - and what appears needed - without a big sale. Raphinha looks set to be that big sale. Accepting a part-exchange deal would only dilute that fee. Should there be a player offered who perfectly fits the profiles Leeds need next season, that could be another matter but there don't seem to be viable players that would fit what Marsch will be looking for at Barcelona at the moment.
Taking Mingueza and accepting a cut-price deal for Raphnha would be a mis-step in a summer that Orta has to get right. Even though Leeds may lose their star player, Leeds will hope that they can replace him by raising the overall level of their squad considerably. They must not miss out on the top price they can get for Raphinha or they will make that overhaul more difficult for themselves.
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