Calling all Leeds United and West Ham fans. You can breathe that little bit easier now.
For much of the last six months, reports linking Raphinha and Jarrod Bowen with big-money moves away from Elland Road and the London Stadium felt like a noose around necks, nagging away at the back of their minds.
A recurring nightmare that would have had even the most glass-half-full supporters waking up in cold sweat.
Raphinha’s agent, the former Portugal international Deco, insists that reports linking Liverpool with Marcelo Bielsa’s magic man are far more than idle paper talk.
“Liverpool like him and there were some approaches,” Deco told Globo Esporte in October.
“Raphinha is happy at Leeds, but there will certainly come a time when he wants to take a step up in his career.
“He has three years left on his contract, but there’s nothing in it that states how long he must stay for or that prevents transfers.”
According to The Times, West Ham were concerned that Liverpool would come calling for Bowen too. Versatile, skilful, improving all the time blessed with a relentless work ethic, the former Hull City ace is pretty much the epitome of a typical Liverpool signing.
“I like Bowen a lot,” Klopp said in November, before the 25-year-old inspired West Ham to a famous 3-2 victory over the 2019 European champions.
“He made his way up from Hull and took not too long to show exactly what kind of player he can be in the Premier League. He made big steps.”
What does Luis Diaz swoop mean for Bowen and Raphinha?
And, on Friday morning, Liverpool made a breakthrough in their pursuit of one of the most talented, up-and-coming forwards in European football.
Fortunately for everyone connected with Leeds or West Ham, however, neither Raphinha nor Bowen are on their way to Anfield. Not in this transfer window and probably not in the next one either.
According to Sky, Liverpool are closing in on a £45 million deal for Porto’s Luis Diaz, pipping Tottenham Hotspur to the proverbial post.
A medical could even take place over the weekend.
And if Diaz can emulate the impact of another exciting young Colombian who made his name at the Estadio do Dragao, the free-scoring forward could prove to be worth every single penny of his admittedly sizeable price-tag.
A sigh of relief?
So where does that leave Raphinha? At Leeds, probably.
Liverpool are not going to splash out a further £40 million-plus fee on another exciting young winger so soon after signing Diaz. Especially with Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota already at Klopp’s disposal.
At this stage, we can rule Bayern Munich out of the running too.
The Bundesliga champions had identified Raphinha as a potential replacement for Kingsley Coman. But the ink’s still drying on the Frenchman’s new, long-term contract, meaning a replacement is no longer required.
West Ham, meanwhile, can also rest assured. Now that Liverpool – the only club to be seriously linked with Bowen in recent months – are turning their attention elsewhere.
As far as Tottenham are concerned, Diaz to Liverpool is a disaster. Yet more humiliation for a club who have got used to having their pants pulled down in front of a guffawing audience.
For Leeds and West Ham, however, it’s less a disaster and more a massive sigh of relief.
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