Radrizzani, Leeds owner: Raphinha sale to Chelsea was 'done'

Andrea Radrizzani

, the owner of Leeds, said that he thought winger

would join Chelsea before "Barcelona influences" sent him to Camp Nou instead.

Chelsea and Leeds agreed on a fee of £65 million, but the 25-year-old Brazilian decided to wait until

made an offer. A few days later, Barcelona did, and he got the move he wanted. Radrizzani told

The Athletic

that he wanted to sell to Chelsea and that he had already made a deal with Blues owner

Todd Boehly

, but that he had to end the talks later.

"As far as I was concerned, it was done, and when I make a deal, I stick to it," the Leeds boss said. "I was embarrassed to go back to Todd Boehly and say that I had changed my mind."He also said, "Arsenal, Tottenham,

, and Barcelona were all interested." We made the best deal with Chelsea. The deal we made with Barcelona, in the end, was pretty much the same as how we set it up at the end. It took time, though.

"We made a deal with Chelsea because the player wanted to go and was willing to hear what other Premier League clubs had to say. Chelsea was the best choice for him.

"But, unfortunately, let's say that people from Barcelona persuaded the player to wait, wait, wait until they found a solution. This again shows the power and leverage players and their agents have in the system, which is exaggerated too much. We do a lot of investment to build clubs. We invest hundreds of millions, but all the power it seems to be [with] agents and representatives of these players.”

Radrizzani's preference to sell to Chelsea stemmed from concerns that Barcelona did not have the money to live up to the terms of their payment plan, which is why Leeds insisted on the presence of a penalty clause that would punish Barcelona if they fail to meet the terms of their agreement.

“It would be ridiculous [if the payments don't come]; I could not imagine something like that happening,” he said. “If not, we will have a global case about Barcelona.”

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