Eddie Howe and Newcastle United are ready to launch an ambitious bid to bring Raphinha back to the Premier League this summer, according to reports.
The high flying Magpies are on course for their first Champions League football in two decades, and are looking to strengthen their squad accordingly.
They are thought to be keen on all of Declan Rice, James Maddison and Moises Caicedo, while they are also keen on a winger, with he likes of Harvey Barnes and Jarrod Bowen having been mentioned.
However, reports from Spain claim that another man they are looking at is Barcelona’s Raphinha, who only made the switch to Camp Nou from Leeds 12 months ago after a transfer tug-of-war with Chelsea.
So far this campaign, the Brazilian has contributed six goals and four assists in La Liga, though he remains a valuable option for the Barca boss.
But the Catalan club are in financial disarray once more despite their many levers economic activated last summer, and need to make money via sales to balance the books this summer.
‘Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players”.
‘In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop spending on wages and transfers from £532m to £399m (€650m to €450m), so it’s a budget of minus £177m (€200m).
It could mean that one of their attackers could be available, though Xavi would reportedly rather part with either Ansu Fati or Ferran Torres before Raphinha.
