Leeds United fans will love Phil Hay's latest claim...
What's the word?
The Athletic reporter dropped an exciting 12-word update on the contractual situation of Raphinha to Twitter earlier this week.
"Leeds United are increasingly confident of finalising a new contract with Raphinha," he said before going on to discuss his performance against West Ham United on Sunday in an accompanying column for the website.
Hay described his display as a "creative masterclass" as Jack Harrison's hat-trick secured an impressive 3-2 win over the Irons at the London Stadium.
A matter of time?
It is surely only a matter of time before we hear official news from the club on this front as all the noises around Elland Road are positive - the fact that one of the most reliable sources associated with Leeds is saying so is massively encouraging.
Indeed, Sunday's performance was another damning reminder of how important the Brazilian is to Marcelo Bielsa and the squad.
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As per SofaScore, he registered a whopping eight key passes, including an assist for one of Harrison's three goals. He also accurately delivered 100% of his crosses, registered two dribbles and attempted three shots but could not add to his eight goals.
Before the weekend, he was the only player to have scored more than twice. He also tops the charts for average rating (7.27) by quite some margin, leading the way for key passes (2.1 per game) and dribbles (2.3 per game), via WhoScored.
'Leeds have no interest in listening to bids for Raphinha in the present transfer window,' Hay added in his piece for The Athletic. 'They have received no offers so far and when it was reported in his native Brazil on Christmas Eve that Bayern Munich would sign him before the end of the month, Leeds poured water on the story quickly.'
Raphinha has been a real star for the Yorkshire giants ever since his £17m move from Stade Rennes in October 2020 - now valued at £36m by Transfermarkt, it has looked every bit like an incredible deal for the club.
Of course, United should be resigned to losing him at some point but him being around for the foreseeable future, thanks to an extension to his current £63k-per-week deal is surely going to leave the Elland Road faithful absolutely buzzing.
AND in other news, "This week": Journo drops big Leeds transfer claim live on air, fans will be buzzing...