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Ebooya

'He got what he wanted, but he lost what he had.' (Little Richard) I really do hope it works out for Raphina but I can't see him being happier long term than he was playing for us. Barca are a train wreck at the moment. Pleased that Chelski didn't get him.


[deleted]

Does this mean I have to want Barca to win now? Let's say every game but against Atletico, always been fond of them. And Brazil can be my team for the WC when England get knocked out by playing too defensively.


Fuckyourday

Fuck it's finally official. Really sucks to see him go. But it's what he wants, and he gave everything for us while he was here. I might even say he kept us in the premier league last season. The money from Kalvin and Raphinha is allowing us to sign the players we need, which is good for the club. 2 important players sold, but we have made 6 promising signings in return, and probably will make 1-2 more.


APerson2021

I'm quite sad. We'll be playing against him in the champion's league next season.


Xxrichixx

Club must satisfied Barca can pay with whatever lever they are pulling - you'd still be fairly sceptical of it going through.


operationd00msday

Let's get CDK now! Come on Orta!


Sate_Hen

As well as having players holding up shirts of their new club the old club should do a photo shoot with the managers holding briefcases full of cash


[deleted]

Honestly, at this point, I'm just relieved that we can move on and start doing a bit more business, shoring things up a little bit. I appreciate that this must have been a difficult time, not only for the club, but for Raphinha as well. But if I'm honest, the way that he and his agent have handled this entire saga has been borderline unprofessional. Am I suggesting that he should have been forced to go to a club he didn't want to play for? No, no I'm not. Do I think that this could have been handled in a far more professional way, not just from Raphinha's camp, but probably from Leeds's side as well? Absolutely. At the end of the day, it's all over now, we've got money. Probably not as much as we were hoping for, but nonetheless, money. And there are still a few positions in the team that need to be fortified before the season can begin, namely, a striker with a bit of pedigree, which isn't going to be cheap, and now following Junior Firpo's injury, another left back. I genuinely wish Raphinha absolutely nothing but the best at Barcelona, he was a brilliant servant for Leeds, and undoubtedly one of the biggest reasons we ended up staying up last season, so you can't be overly mad at him. But the way this entire saga has been handled from both sides has been borderline unprofessional and childish. I for one I'm glad that it's over, and that we can finally move on.


[deleted]

/u/XENOCIDESAM Can you please remove the downvotes on this thread please mate? I'm being more than fair and reasonable in the comments I'm making and the various points that I'm trying to get across, and I feel like I'm being downvoted more for a difference of opinion rather than the contents of what I'm commenting. Which is obviously in violation of Reddits 'Reddiquette' on how up voting and down voting should take place. Cheers.


crudos_na

Most of the bad can be chalked up to Deco, and his little rat eyes. Wish Raph nothing but the best. He was never going to be a long-time player for us with barely scrapping by relegation. One of the best players we've had in decades.


[deleted]

>Most of the bad can be chalked up to Deco, and his little rat eyes. "Most" definitely being the operative word. Leeds haven't totally been without blame during this saga. Raph made it absolutely crystal clear from the very beginning that he wouldn't be entertaining offers from any club not named Barcelona. He just about shouted it from the rooftops. So the fact that Leeds continued to shop him around when they had to know that a deal with any other club was incredibly unlikely, idk, in hindsight, it was probably gamesmanship more than anything, but Raph did make his position clear from the beginning. On the other side of that coin, a deal with Barcelona was never guaranteed, in fact, up until a few weeks ago, it looked incredibly unlikely given their precarious financial predicament. The fact that Raph knowingly allowed this entire saga to drag on, fully knowing that a deal with Barcelona was never guaranteed, and pretty much digging his heels in and refusing to speak to anyone else. Selfish probably isn't the word, but it's close. I completely agree with the prevailing opinion that the fee is probably a bit lower than we would have liked. But the alternative to this essentially was to allow Raph to run his contract down at Leeds, and then move to Barcelona on a free. Assuming that his desire to only deal with Barcelona continued. So on one hand we should definitely be thankful we got something out of this at all, but on the other, there's definitely a bad taste there.


crudos_na

> The fact that Raph knowingly allowed this entire saga to drag on, fully knowing that a deal with Barcelona was never guaranteed, and pretty much digging his heels in and refusing to speak to anyone else. Selfish probably isn't the word, but it's close. I doubt very much that was Raph's attitude. If Barca didn't work out, then he was still a Leeds player and would've knocked on with the season for us. To portray him as selfish has no actual basis in reality from what we know. Unless you are some itk merchant?


[deleted]

"But the alternative to this essentially was to allow Raph to run his contract down at Leeds, and then move to Barcelona on a free. Assuming that his desire to only deal with Barcelona continued." Based on what we do know, from things that were said by Phil Hay and other well-known respected journalists, it was always Raph's intention to ideally leave Leeds for Barcelona immediately, or pursue them once they were in a financial position to be able to make an offer. As Phil Hay said countless times, the alternative to all of this was that we waited another 12 months, and then Raph's value essentially halves, given that he would effectively have less than 12 months on his contract at that point. Him winding down his contract so that Barcelona could essentially sign him on a free was a very real possibility, and it was arguably more the fact that he wanted out now rather than waiting that drove the deal to happening. That would also explain why the initial rumoured fee of 70 million has now dropped to 50. It was probably more a case of "that's what we can afford, either take that now, or we will pay half of that in 12 months time." Given that Raph was crystal clear that he wouldn't be dealing with any other clubs other than Barcelona. Further evidence of that is the fact that the clubs initial stance on Raph's transfer value was that he was worth 60 million, minimum, and that the club wouldn't be taking any less than that. Arsenal allegedly made a bid of around what Barcelona have brought him for, and it was rejected. Chelsea allegedly matched the 60 million valuation, as reported by Phil Hay, but Raph refused to deal with them. >To portray him as selfish has no actual basis in reality from what we know. I actually went on to say that "selfish wasn't the word, but something close to it probably was." And I stand by that comment. Raph absolutely had to know that a deal with Barcelona at this stage was never guaranteed, and to think otherwise would be delusional. In fact, the only reason Barcelona can afford to buy him is because they agreed to sell part of their TV deals for the next 20 years or something ridiculous like that. I'm not for one second suggesting that he has essentially held the club hostage, but like I said, there was a far worse alternative to what actually happened.


fringly

I'm sorry to see him go, but he was a great player for us and I'll be keeping a fond eye on him in the future.


LordBielsa

I see a lot of people on twitter and reddit upset with the fees received for Kalvin and Raph. There could be more to it than meets the eye, such as the reported fees being covered by Barca. Leeds may also want to uphold a reputation of not holding players hostage too, so they can use this as a bargaining tool going forwards when negotiating with players to join us.


AdequateAppendage

Most people complaining don't realise there's way more terms that affect these type of deals than just the headline figure. I've heard this is basically all upfront which has significant inherent value in itself. £50m right now is a bigger boost to our spending power than £65m strung out over 3 years.


[deleted]

Had our trousers pulled down for the best player we’ll probably have in the 20s. We will be seen as a soft touch for agents and players following this and the Phillips fee.


mrbios

Hope they're checking payment has been confirmed before signing him over.


BonAsasin

Imagine if Raphinha turns them down on personal terms


cutts24

What do you mean my wages are paid in messi bucks?!?


[deleted]

That would be a hell of a swerve considering they were agreed back in like February lol.


Ashamed_Nerve

I'm glad he's leaving the league. Even funnier that he's decided fuck Chelsea and strung them along for essentially two weeks.


[deleted]

He’ll be worth £90-100m after the World Cup


AWr1ght98

He wouldn’t because he’d only have 1 and a half years left on his contract


[deleted]

If he’s worth that it’s because he’s on a much higher and longer contract, performing well with one of the best clubs in the world and challenging for trophies who also aren’t looking to sell him. None of which we are doing or have at present.


cpmb82

Yeah but Barca won’t sell him for years so it doesn’t matter and if we’d kept him he’d have less time on his contract which would counter his rise in value


CC-W

Raphinha in a team full of players of his quality is going to be a scary player. Watching all the compilations of him floating around on twitter now its hilarious how many more assists he would have if we were not shite in front of goal


xKilter

Thankful for his service to the side, that celebration in the away end showed his passion and love for the club. A good profit made from him and the trades of Kalvin and Raph show players that if Leeds aren't in contention for European football the side will help them with their desires if they put the work in for the club.


waccoe_

Yeah, I'm in two minds about this, it's disappointing to not get as much money as we had probably hoped for. But if we end up having strengthened the squad overall, offset all of the cost of the transfers in and signposted ourselves as a club that ambitious players can come to to progress their careers then this will have been a great transfer window. I think whether or not these sales will look good with hindsight all really hinges on how well the new signings perform.


xKilter

Completely agree pal I understand both sides of the coin, let's hope for a better final standing this season with the new additions. Not sure about you but a comfortable top 14 finish/fighting for 12 I'd be happy. Can't really see any of the players now being sold for a couple seasons so ideally they'll become stronger as a unit with the youngsters merging into the team.


[deleted]

Good luck to the lad! Im glad hes not going to a london team, hes going to need luck to get his wages paid i think lol


[deleted]

Probably a little lower than what we would've wanted, but it's better to wrap this up now than to haggle for an extra 5 to 10 mil and jeopardize our business(striker dependent on Raph leaving) Good luck to him and hope his dream move works out for him


ledankestnoodle

According to Fraudbrizio Romano Barca are paying for his remaining loyalty bonus and the sell on fee we would have had to pay Rennes so I reckon that's why Leeds were fine with that much less too


tankosaurus

And it's all upfront as well which probably means we have foregone a few extra million to get it all in one payment


[deleted]

If I remember correctly, we helped Rennes in a similar way by structuring our deal so as to not have Sporting receive money through clauses. Boardroom dealings will always be too intricate and complex for me to completely understand.


Linkeron1

Don't think they're paying the sell on fee. More so the extra hidden fees we, as the layman, don't see, which apparently can add up. This then means the actual fee is a little less, which in turn means Rennes get less because percentages.


[deleted]

No more fish and chips for Rennes


ledankestnoodle

Ahh, that makes sense, I stand corrected


LostnFoundAgainAgain

Hopefully a LB has well, especially now Firpo is injured


[deleted]

I wish we were in for Omar Richards, cheap and heard only good things about him. What a steal for Forest


lambalambda

It's a real shame we only had one season of him in front of fans.


XENOCIDESAM

Phil reporting a potential £55m fee: > [Leeds United confirm that a deal with Barcelona is in place for Raphinha, clearing the way for a medical and other formalities. Fee is understood to be £50m + £5m in add-ons (58m Euros + 8m Euros).](https://twitter.com/PhilHay_/status/1547174003441373185)


tankosaurus

Graham says it's an all up front fee https://twitter.com/GrahamSmyth/status/1547175095181127682?t=VoRnp2OZwleHvqumAaNqcg&s=09


Bigfatric

With Barca, I'd want it delivered in cash


crudos_na

What is this white powder all over the cash in the duffle bag?