Arsenal transfer news: Gunners had £62m bid rejected for Barcelona star

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Arsenal reportedly had a €70m (£62m) bid rejected by FC Barcelona in January to sign Raphinha, with the Catalan side keen to keep hold of the former Leeds United star.

According to Sport, Arsenal came in with a late offer to sign the Brazilian international having missed out on Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea, with Mikel Arteta’s side launching a bid to land Raphinha after Barcelona beat the Gunners to the winner in the summer.

Raphinha has endured a difficult spell in Spain since moving to Barcelona. However, since the turn of the year, the attacker has started to find his feet in Catalonia, with the 26-year-old featuring regularly for Xavi Hernandez’s side in both La Liga and the UEFA Europa League.

As per the report, Raphinha is valued greatly by the Barcelona coaching team, with supporters now starting to warm to the former Elland Road talisman after a patchy start to life under Xavi. And this testament was proven in January by rejecting an offer from Arsenal.

Indeed, the north London side eventually found an attacker in Brighton & Hove Albion forward Leandro Trossard. However, things could have been much different had Barcelona accepted Arsenal’s offer to sign Raphinha, a deal that would have been one of the biggest in the club’s history.

Whilst the Brazilian could still be a target for Arsenal ahead of the summer transfer window, the Gunners landing Trossard seems to indicate that Arteta is confident with his current attacking options, with Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson slowly returning from injury.

Arsenal could be thankful they didn’t sign Raphinha in January

Raphinha was many Arsenal supporters’ second choice when Chelsea won the race to sign Mudryk, yet with Trossard proving to be an excellent addition, the Gunners could now be thankful that Barcelona didn’t accept their bid for the winger.

At £62m, Arsenal could have used that money for the summer to invest in a central midfielder, and although Raphinha could be a more long-term solution for depth out on the flanks, the north London side might have done the right thing in going all out for Trossard in the end.