Arsenal director Edu Gaspar revealed Raphinha’s wish to only join FC Barcelona amid links with Arsenal and Chelsea

Brazilian forward Raphinha was very impressive for Leeds United last season. His exceptional form in the Premier League caught many eyeballs including some of the top teams in Europe. The Samba winger finally joined FC Barcelona for a  €60million transfer fee and has signed a 5-year contract. He can surely turn out to be the signing of the season as he has already scored a brilliant goal in their pre-season match against Real Madrid and was the difference maker in the 1-0 win for Barcelona.

The Blaugrana fought tooth and nail to sign him as there was interest from Arsenal and Chelsea. The Blues especially had their eyes on the Brazilian but the player wanted to go to Barcelona and Leeds United respected that decision. It was something that the player wanted and hence Leeds United obliged or else there was a possibility of Chelsea getting him eventually.

Raphinha can be a great addition to the Blaugrana as they have now added depth to their right flank. The Brazilian winger will compete for a place in the starting eleven with Ousmane Dembele, who is also staying and will look to take up this contest sportingly. Overall this has turned out to be a win-win situation for Barcelona and some initial signs tell the fans that Raphinha can be a big signing for the Cules.

Arsenal director Edu Gaspar recently revealed in an interview on Sky Sports on why the Gunners did not push for Raphinha like their London rivals, Chelsea. It seems like Edu had some information where he got to know that the player was interested to only move to Barcelona which was his dream. So Edu decided not to come in between despite Arsenal’s interest on the player.

“People think we went in too deep about Raphinha, because Raphinha was everywhere,”Edu shared. “It’s fair, we did have some conversations with Deco because Deco is his agent and I have a good relationship [with him] – we are friends. “I just said to Deco, ‘can you explain to me the situation with Raphinha?’ and he was clear, ‘Edu, we have a good relationship but I’m not going to lie to you, his idea is to go to Barcelona because he’s dreaming to go to Barcelona, and we’ve been talking to Barcelona since a long time ago’.

“[I said] ‘okay, thank you very much, if something happens then just let me know because I can explore and understand the situation. If not, no problem and we carry on with our relationship.” he added.

Therefore Edu shared his reasons on not getting involved with the entire Raphinha situation as he wanted clarity nd that was exactly what Raphinha’s agent Deco gave it to him.

Arsenal then went on to sign  Oleksandr Zincheno who has joined the club from Manchester City. The Ukrainian can be a major asset for the Gunners given his creativity in midfield and also his versatility to step in as a left back whenever required.