Barcelona have won the race to sign Chelsea target Raphinha after reaching an agreement with Leeds United in a deal for the Brazilian winger on Tuesday, July 12.
The Leeds star was understood to have desired a dream move to the Camp Nou this summer, having agreed personal terms with Barcelona over five months ago.
Chelsea were expected to complete a swoop for the talented Brazilian after launching a bid that was accepted by Leeds United amid competition from Arsenal and Tottenham.
However, Barcelona have now successfully hijacked the Blues deal for the Brazilian after Leeds reached an agreement with Barcelona yesterday according to multiple sources.
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Raphinha will join Barcelona this week
Sources did not confirm the total cost of the deal, but the fee is claimed to be worth over €65 million including add-ons with the player reportedly expected to travel to Barcelona on Wednesday according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.
Leeds had also accepted an offer from Chelsea for Raphinha in June, but the player's desire to move to Barca has now allowed the Catalan club to win the race for his signature.
Raphinha did not travel with the rest of the Leeds squad on the pre-season tour to Australia and will fly to Spain today in order to complete his move to Barcelona.
Raphinha will become Barcelona's 7th most expensive signing
The 25-year-old Brazilian winger is now set to become Barcelona's seventh most expensive signing.
Since 2013, the Catalan have been notorious for pulling off big money deals beginning with Neymar Jr's move from Santos to Camp Nou in 2013 for a fee of around £79.2m making him the club's fourth most-expensive signing before the Catalan club sold him for more than double that amount to PSG in 2017 to become the world's most expensive player.
Barcelona made Ousmane Dembele their most expensive signing after Neymar's exit, acquiring the Frenchman for £126m from Borussia Dortmund.
That same year, the club also bought another Brazilian - Phillpe Coutinho from Liverpool for £121.5m who became the club's second most-expensive signing, before they signed Antoine Griezmann from league rivals Atletico Madrid for a fee of £108m making the Frenchman their third most-expensive signing.
The club also signed Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong from Ajax in 2019 for a fee of around £77m to make him the club's fifth most expensive signing.
The Catalans also signed Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez from Liverpool in 2014 for £73.6m to make him the club's sixth most expensive in the club's history.
Raphinha is now set to become the Blaugarana's seventh in that order once he signs his contract in the coming days.