Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal may keep tabs on Raphinha but Barcelona boss Xavi doesn’t sound like he’s planning to lose the winger any time soon.
Arsenal have a long-standing interest in Raphinha and the rumours will probably persist for a while yet.
Fabrizio Romano suggested that Raphinha was an ‘obsession’ for Arsenal last summer because Edu was so keen on signing his fellow Brazilian.
Raphinha had his heart set on Barcelona though and he landed his dream move from Leeds United to the Camp Nou for around £55million.
Yet the rumours were back in January after Raphinha endured something of a tricky start to life in Catalunya.
Sky Sports claimed that Arsenal were in touch with Raphinha’s agent Deco to gauge a potential transfer after missing out on Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea.
Barcelona stood firm and kept Raphinha, leaving Arsenal to go and sign Leandro Trossard instead.
If Raphinha ever becomes available again, you can be sure that Arsenal will be interested – but that doesn’t seem very likely right now.
Xavi ends Arsenal’s hopes of signing ‘extraordinary’ Barcelona star Raphinha
Raphinha has started to find his best form for Barcelona.
The 26-year-old has now bagged three goals and three assists in his last six games for Barcelona, including a goal against Manchester United on Thursday.
Raphinha is gradually answering his doubters at Barcelona and all but ruling out a move to Arsenal in the process.
Barca boss Xavi has now hailed Raphinha having been dazzled by his recent form.
As quoted by Fabrizio Romano, Xavi indicated that nobody at Barcelona has trusted Raphinha more than he has this season.
Xavi added that Raphinha is ‘daring more’ now having found his confidence, praising him as ‘extraordinary’.
“I’m the one who has trusted him the most,” said Xavi. “He’s the player with the most assists of the team. He scores, in the 1v1 he’s daring more… he’s extraordinary. When there was criticism, I had no doubt that Raphinha was going to succeed here,” he added.
It looks like Xavi wants Raphinha to be a key man at Barcelona for a while yet, so Arsenal can forget about a transfer in the near future.
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