Manchester United are reportedly among the sides who are ‘closely monitoring’ Barcelona winger Raphinha, with the Red Devils ‘better equipped financially’ to sign him than some rivals.
Raphinha has been at Barcelona for over two and a half years, after making the switch from Elland Road. He could have stayed in England, with the likes of Arsenal after him, but decided to move to Spain, where he is having the season of his life.
The winger has 25 goals and 18 goals to his name this season, including nine goals and four assists in nine Champions League games.
He is being touted for potential Ballon d’Or honours, and is also being courted by some big clubs. United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle are all said to be ‘closely monitoring’ Raphinha, as per Caught Offside.
While the Gunners have long-term interest in the winger and have previously spoken to Barcelona about signing him, United are one of the sides with the best chance of landing him.
The report states that they and Liverpool are ‘better equipped financially’ to sign Raphinha, and can make an offer to Barcelona which they could ‘consider good enough’.
Indeed, despite the winger’s fantastic form, the Spanish giants’ poor financial situation could leave them no choice.
Though United have been undertaking cost-cutting measures, which suggests the financial position is not the strongest, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has stated there will be money available in the summer.
“There will be a budget for [Ruben] Amorim this summer. I’m not going to disclose it. Of course, that budget changes depending on who he might decide to sell because that would supplement the budget,” Ratcliffe said.
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Whether United would be able to actually beat the other sides in the race for Raphinha remains to be seen, though. They are 14th in the Premier League, whereas Liverpool are top, Arsenal are second and Newcastle sixth.
While they might have the financial capability to land the forward, he might decide he can move somewhere better, with the knowledge that there are better placed sides tracking him.
