Al-Hilal keen on signing Barcelona star with Bayern Munich also interested - Reports

Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal has expressed an interest in signing FC Barcelona's star winger Raphinha, with Barcelona only being open to sell the player come the end of the season, as reported by Sport.

Raphinha, who moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2022 for a fee of €58 million plus add-ons, has had a tumultous time at Barca. He has shown many flashes of brilliance, but his tenure there can be summed up overall as very inconsistent.

This season, Raphinha had a rocky start, getting a red card and a two-game suspension against Getafe, and also enduring a muscle injury which caused him to miss a couple of games. However, he found a good run of form in December with one goal and four assists in four La Liga games, taking his tally to three goals and seven assists in 18 games across all competitions this season.

Al-Hilal are currently unbeaten and top of the Saudi Pro League with a seven-point lead over Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr. They were looking to strengthen their squad even further with a top-quality winger like Raphinha to bolster their title push as well as their ambitions in the AFC Champions League; however, Barcelona made it clear that they will be open to selling him but only at the end of the season.

Previously, Bayern Munich have also been linked with Raphinha, and renewed interest may be likely as Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel has been vocal in support of the player's abilities in the past.

With Leroy Sane at a crossroads with respect to his contract extension at Bayern, Raphinha may also emerge as a transfer target for more depth on the wings.

FC Barcelona love to leave things late this season

An intriguing statistic about Barca's La Liga campaign has emerged halfway through the 2023-24 season. Currently in 3rd place on the table with 41 points after 19 games, they have won 27 out of those 41 points in the last 15 minutes of the game.

This can be attributed to their organized clutch play and high pressure towards the end of games which has forced mistakes from opposition defenders.

The most impressive of these points gained was against current UCL side Real Sociedad, when, with the game tied at 0-0, Ronald Araujo nodded the ball home in the 92nd minute to give them all three points.

\The Culers will be hoping Barcelona put away games much earlier and not leave things so late if they wish to seriously challenge for all the competitions that they are currently in.