Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani threatens Barcelona with a ‘global case’ should they fail to pay Rapinha transfer fee

Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani has threatened Barcelona with a ‘global case’ should Barcelona fail to pay Rapinha’s transfer fee.

The Brazilian joined Barcelona from Leeds United after the Spanish clubs beat off competition from Chelsea.

According to Andrea Radrizzani, there was a deal in place for Rapinha to join Chelsea in a deal that is the best for everyone involved but that changed when Barcelona stepped in.

Andrea Radrizzani blamed agent Deco who was a former Barcelona player for the turn of events saying his influence and Barcelona’s improvement complicated the transfer process.

“Barcelona wasn’t in a situation to buy players. They were shopping around but were not able to confirm the deals because their financial situation was not clear.

“They were very active with many players in Europe, [Robert] Lewandowski and many others. This created a lot of confusion in the market.

“We couldn’t deal with Barcelona because they weren’t in a position to deal. So we made a deal with Chelsea because the player wanted to go and he was open to listening to offers from Premier League clubs.”\

“For me, it was done [Raphinha to Chelsea], and when I have a deal my word is my word,” Radrizzani added.

“I felt ashamed to go back to Todd Boehly and change my position.

“Chelsea was in his favourable [option]. But unfortunately, let’s say Barcelona influences convinced the player to wait, to wait, to wait until they could find a solution.

“This shows again the power and the leverage players and their agents have in the system, which for me is exaggerated, too much.

“We do a lot of investment to build clubs. We invest hundreds of millions but all the power it seems to be [with] agents and representatives of these players.”

It is no news that Barcelona are in serious debt with clubs such as Napoli, and Bayern Munich insisting on not selling players to the Spanish club because they doubt their existence in the coming years.

But Barcelona in their bids to get money has resolved by selling some of the club’s exclusive rights such as the club’s studio, TV, and stadium which was done in different ‘financial levers’.

At the time of this report Barcelona would have to activate their fourth level to register their new players should Gerard Pique refuse to reduce his wages.

And a worried Andrea Radrizzani has said there could be a court case should Barcelona refuse to pay up the agreed fees on agreed date.

“I don’t know behind the scenes and where they found the money and how it works. It’s not clear.

“I’ll tell you on September 2 [whether they paid for Raphinha]. If not, we will have a global case.”