The Moment Thomas Tuchel Could Have Convinced Raphinha To Join Chelsea From Leeds United

Chelsea are closing in on the signing of Leeds United star Raphinha which will come to the delight of Blues head coach Thomas Tuchel.

They are set to beat Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona to the signing of the Brazilian after entering talks with Leeds.

Chelsea are reported to be ready to pay in excess of £55 million for the 25-year-old this summer, adding to the expected of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City.

Todd Boehly was ready to back Tuchel in the transfer market and he is doing just that, 'verbally indicating' their willingness to meet Leeds' asking price for Raphinha.

Personal terms are now being discussed between Chelsea and Raphinha, and they are not expected to be a problem.

Chelsea were in talks to sign Raphinha back in January but discussions were forced to be stalled due to the sanctions being placed on the Blues back in March until the end of May.

Tuchel has, almost, got his top attacking targets and now a photo and video has resurfaced between him and Raphinha at Stamford Bridge back in December 2021 post-match between the pair.

Tuchel will now have a whole host of attacking options once the expected arrivals of Raphinha and Sterling are confirmed.

They will join Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi in the attacking department should all of the players stay in west London for next season.

Raphinha's teammate at Leeds, Daniel James, labelled the Brazilian a magician last year: "He’s a magician.

"He’s always been a great player – I played against him at United and he was always great – but he’s improved so much.

"He fully deserved his Brazilian call-up and I think since he got it, he’s pushed on even more, he’s even more confident. He can do absolutely anything on the pitch. It’s great playing with him."

Tuchel did warn his forwards towards the end of last season that he may look to strengthen in attack in the summer transfer window.

He said: "If we stick to the group then we will try to solve it with these players.

"Is it necessary to bring more offensive players around the box to create more distractions, to create more space for each other? We will ask that question. Can we do better in the structure? Can we push the players more? Did we rotate too much? Let’s see.

“There are a lot of options. The numbers we produce from our offensive players don’t allow us to over-perform and we need over-performance if we want to be nearer to the top two teams. I am not pointing fingers, I am not blaming anybody, but we need over-performance from everybody. It’s not over-performance if we have only single figures in scoring and assisting.”

Tuchel has done just that and Chelsea's transfer business is set to get underway with not one, but two eye-catching arrivals.