This summer has presented a fair few opportunities to FC Barcelona to make use of. Some of these chances have been too obvious to miss, while others have come by occasionally and presented good windows to take advantage of. Unfortunately, Barcelona still remains massively limited due to their financial problems.
However, while the transfer of Nico Williams may be possible for Barcelona to fund as they are, other operations will require additional effort. This would mean that the potential arrival of Dani Olmo or even that of a possible midfield arrival, will need Barça to make some level of sacrifice.
Unfortunately, the Catalan club does not have enough available players to place on the exit ramp to attract offers. Many stars such as Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong, and Ansu Fati are currently injured, and Barcelona can consequently not take advantage of the suitors that they still had.
Instead, 27-year-old Raphinha has emerged as a potentially viable asset that could be sold to attract a good transfer fee and also take a sizeable burden off the team’s salary space. Arsenal have already reportedly been interested, and Barcelona have also been open to negotiations for him.
Now, however, SPORT has revealed that a massive new party has joined in as well. Al-Nassr, a club based in Saudi Arabia, has apparently now offered a figure close to €100 million to take away the services of the Brazilian forward who was formerly a star at Leeds United over in England.
Due to his time over there in the Premier League, clubs like Arsenal still consider him to be a player worth investing in. However, their economic offers can hardly match the one being presented by the Middle Eastern club, and that is primarily the priority for Barcelona given that they could use all the financial boosts they can get.
The player’s opinion, however, will be equally important. Realistically, it would be more likely to see the €50 million-rated forward choose to return to England to maintain the high level at which he plays instead of ditching his European dreams and going away to Saudi Arabia.
Al-Nassr, however, already has some of the sport’s most elite players even today. Cristiano Ronaldo barely needs an introduction, and Aymeric Laporte has already proven himself to be capable of helping Spain win the European Championship. Ultimately, however, the decision will rest with Raphinha himself.
