Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Retain Interest in Leeds Star Raphinha

When Liverpool splashed the cash to beat Tottenham to FC Porto and Colombia winger Luis Diaz at the close of the January window, the reasonable take would have been that the Reds had seized an opportunity to make their planned big summer attacking signing early.

The land of transfer rumours isn’t a place for reasonable takes, though, and so a little more than a week removed from that piece of business there are claims that Liverpool retain their interest in Leeds United forward Raphinha ahead of the 2022 summer transfer window.

At least that’s how The Athletic see it this week, though Liverpool are said to be but one of many interested parties—including historic rivals Manchester United. As for Raphinha, the Brazilian winger himself has responded to the latest chatter rather as one might expect.

“I’ve got a contract until 2024, my head is totally here and focused on Leeds,” he told the BBC when asked about the latest scuttle concerning his future. “As for contractual matters, I leave them to my agent. I just focus on playing football and making the Leeds fans happy.”

For those inclined to get excited about the possibility of another big name South American attacker arriving in the summer, it’s worth noting that in recent months relationships between The Athletic’s journalists and Liverpool appear to have grown rather strained.

Since Jürgen Klopp called out the paywalled outlet last year, they have run hit pieces and helped perpetuate the narrative that the Liverpool manager called the Africa Cup of Nations a “small” tournament, and in January they seemed to have little insight on transfer matters.

As such, while they might have some inside information on Raphinha’s situation via the player himself or Leeds if the Yorkshire club are looking to drum up business, one imagines that nobody at Liverpool at least is making it known whether or not they still have interest.