Barcelona set a €100 million price-tag on forward amid Arsenal links

Arsenal have made the headlines in Barcelona today following reports that suggested the Premier League giants are in the market for Raphinha.

The Barça forward has been reportedly identified as the ideal alternative for Mykhailo Mudkry – an Arsenal target who is set to join Chelsea on a whopping €100 million deal.

According to Diario SPORT, Barcelona are not ready to give out Raphinha on a cut-price deal either. The report claims the club president Joan Laporta is looking for a fee of €100 million for the services of Raphinha.

This is primarily because the club have no intention to offload Raphinha just yet. It has only been half a year since the forward joined the club and it appears the Catalans are willing to give him more time to adapt to Xavi’s game.

Raphinha, in fact, has already done an excellent job of adapting to the tactics of Xavi. But he has failed to provide the end product in the final third, having only netted three goals in 22 competitive matches.

Raphinha’s struggles with productivity has unsurprisingly led to a reduced role in the first-team, with the forward falling behind the likes of Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembele and Ferran Torres in the pecking order.

Barcelona, though, do not want to offload the former Leeds United starlet anytime soon, unless Arsenal are ready to fork out €100 million, which remains out of the question given that the Gunners were not willing to pay out the same amount even for top target Mudryk.

Raphinha had initially joined Barça for a fee of around €60 million. But it appears the Catalans are certain of the fact that they should not have much difficulty recouping the investment, as the forward still holds a lot of cloud in the Premier League.