Newcastle 'closing in' on £50.8m deal for winger but actual transfer remains unlikely to happen

Newcastle United and Barcelona are reportedly close to agreeing terms over a move for former Leeds United winger Raphinha.

The Brazilian winger has been on Newcastle's wish list for a while now and several attempts to sign the 27-year-old have led to dead ends.

However now, Football365 are claiming that reports are suggesting there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for Newcastle.

Barcelona need to sell before they can buy this summer and despite Raphinha working his way into Xavi's plans last season, new Barca boss Hansi Flick has reportedly said that Raphinha is 'not essential at all'.

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The Barca president has accepted Newcastle's bid

That's a pretty harsh thing to hear no matter who you are, but it still doesn't seem to have nudged the Brazilian any closer to wanting to join Newcastle.

The reports state that Barcelona president Joan Laporta has accepted a €60million (£50.8million), but then go on to say that Raphinha would not be tempted by Newcastle due to their lack of Champions League football and the fact that they are not currently 'fighting for trophies'.

I mean, we were in the Champions League last season and in a cup final the season before that, but yeah, Raphinha, you do you, mate.

Raphinha might need to dismount from his high horse

It's actually annoying that he'd rather rot at Barcelona because they're a Champions League side challenging for trophies than play for a team who are trying to do just that.

Hopefully, that clicks in his head at some point and he'll at least be open enough to talk to Newcastle as he would be an amazing signing for the Magpies.

Are we just naive as Newcastle fans that we can't understand why players like Raphinha wouldn't jump at the chance to join us? We could understand it if there was a line of clubs behind us fighting for him who could offer those two things, but right now, it's us or nobody.