Barcelona have officially unveiled Leeds United winger Raphinha as their next signing of the summer transfer window.
Earlier this week, the Catalan giants and their Premier League counterparts confirmed that an agreement was in place ahead of the Brazil international undergoing a medical.
Barcelona are said to be paying an initial fee of €58m (£49.2m) which could rise to €68m (£57.7m) with add-ons, that compromise being reached after Chelsea had previously met Leeds' valuation.
However, it has long been known that Raphinha's preference has been to move to Camp Nou, always making Chelsea no more than an alternative in the event that Barcelona could not finance a deal this summer.
With the medical having been completed, the remainder of the formalities took place on Friday afternoon as Raphinha penned his deal at the club's training facilities alongside president Joan Laporta.
DONE DEAL ✍️✅@JoanLaportaFCB 🤝Raphinha pic.twitter.com/Rq0nYs80KD
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 15, 2022
Speaking after confirmation of the transfer, Raphinha said: "It's a dream come true since I was a kid, and of my family as well. I'm going to give my best.
"I started watching Barça when Ronaldinho came here. Everything that he achieved here definitely influenced my decision to come. I always wanted to come here."
The 25-year-old departs Elland Road having contributed 17 goals and 12 assists from his 67 appearances in all competitions.
Raphinha's final strike for Leeds came on the final day of 2021-22, his penalty helping the Yorkshire outfit to a 2-1 win over Brentford which kept the club in the Premier League.
© Reuters
Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch has recently opened up on parting ways with Raphinha, praising the attacker's attitude despite the prospect of raising his release clause.
Speaking to reporters, Marsch said: "As much as it's really hard to lose Raphinha, I'll say this, if you think about a young man that was pretty much guaranteed to go on a reduced transfer fee to Barcelona if we were relegated and then you watch the performances he had to making sure the club was going to stay up, it would be hard for any 25-year-old to perform the way that he did.
"We are so thankful and I had that conversation with him. A big part for us considering to move him was the fact that he was committed, it made it easy for us to be very connected to what his goals in his life and career are."
Raphinha becomes Barcelona's fourth signing of the summer, joining Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie and Pablo Torre in moving to the La Liga side.
Ousmane Dembele has also penned a new two-year contract after it initially appeared that he would bring his five-year association with the club to an end.
Darren Plant
