Exclusive: 'Unthinkable Arsenal will pay Barcelona's Raphinha asking price'

Ben Jacobs

• 19 Jan 2023 19:50 GMT
• 5 min read

Exclusive

Ben Jacobs of CBS Sports has told FootballTransfers that Arsenal will not pay Barcelona's asking price for Raphinha amid rumours of a move...

Arsenal are going to be relatively conservative, much like they were last January and if the right name doesn't present itself over the course of the next two weeks, they'll wait until the summer.

But all of the talk has shifted now wrongly, I think, towards Raphinha who wants to stay at Barcelona. Remember that Arsenal bid first for Raphinha, before Chelsea tried to hijack it and agreed a deal with Leeds and then subsequently Barcelona came in. Arsenal were the first club there for Raphinha.

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And let's not forget the valuation that Arsenal had for Raphinha back then was much lower than Barcelona are asking for now.

So it's unthinkable if Arsenal didn't want to pay €100 million for their top target in Mudryk that they would pay €100 million now to Barcelona for Raphinha because again it goes against their strategy. Then add to that, the fact that Raphinha still wants to stay at Barcelona because nothing has changed over the last few months since he's moved. It's his dream club and perhaps it hasn't always worked out in terms of game time and form how he would have liked.

But he wants to play at Barcelona and win trophies there in the long term. He's just won his first trophy via an El Clasico victory. So it's going to be difficult to change any of that narrative even with Barcelona still needing to bring in some income. Therefore I think this is the type of rumour and agent fuel narrative that always gets put out there.

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Of course if you’re Edu, you're going to make inquiries to agents and names are going to come up, but at the moment, Arsenal are content if they don't sign that creative, attack-minded player.

We know they've wanted that for a while, it doesn't matter how you classify it, whether it's a winger, whether it's on the left or the right, whether it's central, whether it's versatile, whether it's a forward or whether it's more of a Gabriel Jesus direct replacement due to the injury, they've been looking for a while and we've seen them linked with Raphinha, Moussa Diaby and Jack Harrison, and they've been cautious to move because Arsenal’s momentum is so strong at the moment that perhaps they don't need to.

Depth is one thing and having that backup plan is another because obviously if Arsenal now don't go on to win the Premier League, I'm sure certain fans will turn around and say: ‘We should have fought harder for Mudryk, he might have been the difference.’ Or: ‘Why didn't we put down a heavy offer for a player like Raphinha’, but we know this is not how Arsenal's recruitment strategy works. It's very different to Chelsea's and I think it's worth pointing that out.

Criticism directed at Arsenal

Arsenal received a lot of criticism a year ago in the January window where they tried for Dusan Vlahovic and all it did was catalysed Juventus to move earlier and the player wanted that move from Fiorentina.

Edu got a lot of criticism at that time for not being ambitious, but it's not about ambition because even trying for Vlahovic in the January window was a huge statement of intent from Arsenal, but you have to marry the ambition with the common sense of your recruitment strategy because Chelsea need the now, which is why they were quick on the Felix deal, which is why they've brought in Mudryk, and obviously at the same time there's other more pressing areas at Chelsea that still need strengthening.

So the new ownership group there have to perhaps pay a bit above the odds and be quick and be aggressive because their team is 10th in the table. But Arsenal now have improved and the long term strategy, the patience they've had and the discipline within the recruitment market is all paying off. So for them to go against that mid-season would, to some degree, be counterproductive.

Personally, I've been a bit surprised to see some criticism still towards Arsenal and the manner in which they're doing things because if you were negative about how they operated a year ago, you're eating humble pie now. And if you're negative about them not paying that extra money for Mudryk now, or ultimately going against their strategy, then there's proof in the pudding at the moment that on the football side they're heading towards an incredible season, and hopefully from their perspective period of success.

Those that criticise Arsenal now, even if they don't get a Mudryk style replacement, could again be eating humble pie in the summer when, because of not doing that, they have the money, funds, freedom, Champions League football and maybe the Premier League crown to go for a big summer.

So I think Arsenal is all about the long game and the vision. Whereas maybe last January some were entitled to question that especially after they went on to miss out on Champions League football, now I think we have to be very careful about criticising what Arsenal do and don't spend because their project is moving fast and in an exciting manner in the right direction.