Leeds winger Raphinha has shown Thomas Tuchel exactly why he needs to make a difficult Ousmane Dembele Chelsea transfer decision come the summer with what he has done during this mini-international break.
The Blues were linked with a late loan swoop for the Barcelona winger who was no longer wanted in Catalunya by Xavi and the higher ups but the 24-year-old decided to stay put ahead of a potential big pay day in the summer when he becomes a free agent.
“We think Ousmane Dembélé has an agreement in place with another club," Barca president Joan Laporta said to the Spanish press after the transfer window closed.
“He didn’t want to leave the club in January. It’s really difficult to understand his position, makes no sense for him and for the club”.
Some media outlets reported on Monday that a deal was incredibly close but this was far from being the case, football.london understands.
football.london also understands that Thomas Tuchel likes Dembele a lot having worked with him at Dortmund. Chelsea are interested and could move for him in the summer when he’ll be on a free, but will need to shift out an attacker (or two) already on their books.
Could this mean someone like Christian Pulisic or potentially Hakim Ziyech leaves the Blues in the summer?
Well, Chelsea are certainly poised to make their move again in the summer when there is more time to get over the potential wage stumbling block.
Alternatively, if a contract termination was to be the outcome in the next few days as rumoured by some Spanish sources, then Dembele as a free agent could happen sooner - something that would delight Tuchel.
However, should the German hold off until the summer at least and consider other options that could benefit his attacking re-structure?
Raphinha is a player who has been linked to making a west London move in the summer and this could become a real possibility depending on what happens at Leeds after they turned down approaches from West Ham at the end of January.
But a potential swoop will be dependent on whether or not Marina Granovskaia can shift any of the attackers who are reportedly considering their futures in SW6, football.london understands.
"Raphinha is a really interesting one, though Chelsea have so many players in similar positions at the moment, they will likely need to move some players on first. Who knows though, maybe Thiago Silva has spent the international break telling him how nice Stamford Bridge is," football.london's Scott Trotter said in his Deadline Day Q&A on Chelsea looking ahead to the summer.
Nevertheless, regardless of whether Tuchel opts for his tried and tested Dembele over Leeds' current number 10, Raphinha himself hasn't done any harm for his reputation during this South American international break with what he was able to do in the World Cup qualifier against Paraguay on Tuesday morning.
After receiving a long raking ball from Thiago Silva's defensive compatriot Marquinhos in the 27th minute, the 25-year-old was able to cut back on his wand of a left foot before beating Anthony Silva at his near post to make it 1-0 to the Selecao.
Lethal finishing and decision making that has been sorely missing from the Chelsea attack this season as they still try and acclimatise to Romelu Lukaku's presence ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup later this month.
