Leeds think £49m player didn’t want to play under Conte at Tottenham

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Leeds United believe that Raphinha did not want to play under Antonio Conte at Tottenham Hotspur, according to The Athletic.

Tottenham wanted to sign Raphinha from Leeds

The Athletic have reported that Tottenham wanted to sign Raphinha from Premier League rivals Leeds before he moved to Barcelona in the summer transfer window.

Sky Sports have claimed that Barcelona have paid Leeds an initial transfer fee of £49 million.

According to The Athletic, people at Leeds ‘suspected Raphinha might not be keen on joining Spurs because he feared their head coach Antonio Conte might play him as a wing-back, a role he did not feel comfortable with’.

Barcelona over Spurs?

We can understand why Raphinha chose Barcelona over Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

Now, of course, we know that Tottenham are a big club who will play in the UEFA Champions League and have the world-class Antonio Conte as their manager.

However, Barcelona are one of the biggest and most historic clubs in the world, and head coach Xavi will use Raphinha as a winger/wide forward.

We know that Conte likes to play with wing-backs, and if Raphinha did not play in that role, then it made no sense whatsoever for him to make the switch to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.