Leeds quids in as Raphinha, Barcelona clause emerges and Thierry Henry makes Ballon d’Or claim

Leeds United will be owed another hefty wage of cash from Barcelona if Ballon d’Or favourite Raphinha helps his side win the Champions League, with Thierry Henry revealing why the Brazilian now has the prize in his sights, though with the Arsenal legend dropping a bizarre theory about the winger’s spell at Elland Road.

When Leeds sold Raphinha to Barcelona in summer 2022 for a package worth up to £58m, they knew they were bidding farewell to one of the most talented and talked-about players to pull on a Whites shirt in a generation. Having almost single-handedly saved Leeds from relegation in the 2021/22 season, it was perhaps no surprise to see the West Yorkshire club ultimately fall on their sword just a year later.

Now almost three years on from his exit, Raphinha has evolved into arguably the best player in the world, and is powering Barcelona towards what he hopes will be a second LaLiga crown in three years, but also, potentially, their first Champions League success since 2015.

With a stunning 50 goals and assists to his name this season alone, Raphinha has already eclipsed the total he pulled together in his first two seasons at the Nou Camp and having played himself into the form of his life under coach Hansi Flick.

Having racked up his half-century on Wednesday night as Borussia Dortmund were trounced 4-0 in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg, Rapha’s three goal contributions in the game helped him bring up the magic half-century, with 28 goals and 22 assists now to his name.

And with Barcelona now as good as through to the last four of the competition, where they will face the winners of the Inter Milan v Bayern Munich tie, multiple sections of the Spanish media have now confirmed Leeds will be owed another £10m (€12.5m at the time) payment as part of his transfer to the Nou Camp if Barca go on to win lift the Champions League.

Off the back of his remarkable season, Raphinha is also now the favourite to win the 2025 Ballon d’Or crown – with Henry wholesomely praising the player during an interview for CBS Sport.

“What we saw with Leeds, the Ballon d’Or should be very much a potential prize if you continue playing the way you are,” Henry stated, to which Raphinha responded: “Thank you very much for your words…”

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Thierry Henry offers bizarre insight into Raphinha’s time at Leeds

Raphinha continued: “You have been speaking about me all this time, you are a person I appreciate greatly since I was little. My head is not thinking about the Ballon d’Or. I want to win everything I can for Barcelona.

“That’s the most-important thing for me. The goals that I have are to win titles and with titles, individual prizes will come. But the most-important thing for me is to win prizes with this shirt, which is my dream.”

In the lead-up to the game, Henry had earlier offered the bizarre suggestion that Raphinha had struggled to settle at Leeds, despite the winger clocking up an impressive 29 goal contributions (17 scored, 12 assists) in 67 appearances across two seasons in England and with his form proving the catalyst to secure his dream move to Barca.

Assessing Raphinha’s evolution into a Ballon d’Or candidate from ‘Leeds United struggles’, Henry said: “Maybe because of where he’s from, adapting to Barcelona might have been a bit easier than adapting to Leeds. The team wasn’t playing well, you’re playing with Pedri, de Jong. You can stay high and wide.

“You’re not going to get the ball past the halfway line, someone in your back when you need to dribble [past] one, two, three. Having said that, he’s not cheating, he’s always defending, always running back.”

Leeds round-up: GK chase collects new name; Wolves star wanted

Leeds continue to be linked with new goalkeepers, with Newcastle’s Nick Pope, who could be forced out by the signing of James Trafford at St James’ Park, the latest to be linked with Elland Road.

The signing of a new goalkeeper, though does now look certain after the recent axing of Illan Meslier, who falls out of contract in summer 2026 and with his replacement, Karl Darlow, keeping a hard-earned clean sheet at Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

Trusted journalist Ben Jacobs recently revealed that a Chelsea goalkeeper has been added to a Liverpool man as possible options to sign this summer.

Meanwhile, Leeds are reportedly ‘alert’ to the potential signing of Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale after learning of a release clause in his contract.

Elsewhere, we can also confirm that Leeds United will have to fight off Nottingham Forest if they are to sign a Wolves star in the summer window, with the full-back going from strength to strength during a loan in the Eredivisie.

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