There are many teams who are always keeping an eye out on Barcelona for their talented players. Beyond just assessing them as rivals, others also tend to keep an eye out for such players as possible acquisitions. However, for Barcelona specifically, this may just be a blessing in disguise.
Knowing their economic shortcomings quite well by now, Barça have certain routes they have to take. To help balance their own financial situation, it is understood that Barcelona will need to generate some sizeable revenue in the summer, and a direct way of doing this would be selling some players for the right price.
That is where Saudi Arabia seems to now come in again. According to SPORT, certain teams from Saudi Arabia are invested in Barcelona winger Raphinha, and still do not give up on their pursuit of the Brazilian forward. In fact, they are willing to go to extreme lengths to acquire him.
One of those lengths is to surpass the price tag of €80 million that Barcelona has attached to him. His initial arrival from Leeds United before this had cost close to €57 million, but if the clubs from Saudi Arabia manage to surpass it significantly, it would really help out Barcelona a lot with both amortization and their newer plans for the summer window.
As per the same report, four massive clubs from Saudi Arabia are eyeing the Brazilian winger. The first is Al-Hilal, who are joined by the likes of Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli, and Al-Ittihad, all of whom are quite interested in making sure the Barcelona player becomes a part of their Middle Eastern aspirations.
His current status as a player in the best of European competitions as well as his consistency with the Brazilian National team selections, makes him a real target for the teams from the Middle East. They highly value both his profile and standing, and thus consider him to be a viable target.
Despite Barcelona reportedly not wanting to sell him or consider it at the moment given the sensitivity of their season, it is a prospect they simply can not ignore. Even Raphinha, whose lifelong dream has been to succeed at Barcelona, does not wish to leave. However, a lot of things can change in the summer, especially given Barça’s vulnerabilities.
