Chelsea are now favourites to sign Raphinha if Barcelona fail to submit an offer for the Leeds United attacker, according to reports.
The Brazil international is in high demand after two impressive years at Leeds and the Blues have already seen their £55 million bid accepted.
But Raphinha’s preference is to sign for Barcelona and the winger has been waiting on the Spanish te to reach an agreement with Leeds.
Last week, Raphinha’s agent, Deco, met with Barca’s hierarchy on several occasions but the Spanish club have yet to meet Leeds’ valuation.
According to the Evening Standard, Raphinha is set to finally make a decision on his future within the next 24 hours and Chelsea are ‘frontrunners’ to secure a deal if Barca do not follow up with an offer.
The report claims that Arsenal ‘have not given up hope’ of signing Raphinha but claim the winger has already ‘snubbed’ a move to Mikel Arteta’s side and Tottenham.
Chelsea are also set to announce their £45 million deal to finally sign Raheem Sterling from Manchester City.
The England international has already agreed a contract worth £300,000, which will make him the highest earner in the squad.
Chelsea are also pushing to sign two new centre-backs but face the prospect of losing out to Bayern in the race for Matthijs de Ligt as the Juventus centre-back prefers a move to the Bundesliga champions.
Chelsea’s new co-owner Todd Boehly is also considering making an offer for Cristiano Ronaldo, with the 37-year-old pushing to leave Manchester United this summer.
