Brazilian outlet Portal LeoDias have investigated the headline story around Raphinha’s finances.
Raphinha was injured in Brazil’s 3-0 win over Haiti and isn’t expected back until the quarter-finals.
Soon after the match, former Brazil international Vampeta caused headlines by saying on a podcast that Raphinha was going through financial problems.
He claimed that the forward was planning to leave Barcelona as a result, likely for a big salary at Al Hilal.
Raphinha’s entourage have denied the claims in statements to Mundo Deportivo, while Raphinha himself has avoided addressing them directly.
LeoDias have now conducted an investigation, and tried to find the smoke behind the fire.
Raphinha’s finances stem from his father
They claim that the truth behind the story is from 2022 when Raphinha left Leeds United for Barcelona in Spain for £49million.
They say that upon arriving in Catalunya Raphinha and his wife, Nathália Belloli, fell in love with a beautiful mansion valued at €10million, something they thought they could afford with his substantial salary increase.
However, when working things out, Raphinha’s wife realised that the couple wouldn’t have enough money to buy the property, despite his huge salary increase and image rights.
Natália investigated Raphinha’s contractual relationships and discovered that a large portion of the money the player received went into his father’s accounts.
LeoDias claim: “According to sources, 80% of the advertising contract revenue belonged to Raphinha’s father, Rafael Belloli, while the player only received 20% of the earnings.
“In addition to advertising contracts, a significant portion of the player’s salary also went to his father, since it is standard practice for football players’ salaries to be divided into ‘account pay’ and image rights payments.
“The incident caused outrage from the player’s wife, Natália, leading to a breakdown in the financial relationship between father and son. Since then, the family has been divided and lives in constant conflict.”
The outlet adds that Raphinha was co-managed by his father and Brazilian agent Deco, who stepped away from the role after becoming Barcelona’s sporting director.
Raphinha now takes advice from his father-in-law, Alexandre Madeira, but doesn’t have an agent.
LeoDias finish their report with a look towards the future, claiming: “Raphinha and his family also deny the possibility of him leaving Barcelona at this time.
“The player recently signed a contract extension that guaranteed him a monthly salary of €1million, making him one of the three highest-paid players on the team.
“Furthermore, Raphinha does not wish to transfer to Saudi Arabian football, which, despite paying some of the best salaries in world football, does not have the desired level of competition.
“In the last transfer window, both the striker and the Spanish club rejected offers from Saudi Arabian football.”
They finish by claiming that Raphinha and his wife, Natália Belloli, and his father, Rafael Belloli, were all contacted for the report, but didn’t comment.
Raphinha’s ‘financial difficulties’
Former Brazilian international Vampeta said in to the ‘RedCast’ podcast: “Raphinha is going through a serious family problem in addition to financial difficulties.
“He’s praying to see if he can go to Al Hilal. He’s dealing with this situation.
“It’s a family matter. The information reached me through people close to the situation at Barcelona.
“He is confident that the transfer to Al Hilal will allow him to turn the situation around.”
Igor Padilha, Raphinha’s cousin, responded to the claims: “You’ll have to explain these lies, my friend.”
Despite being regularly linked with a Saudi move, Raphinha admitted he was close to joining, but Hansi Flick turned everything around.
In May, he commented: “From the first day I arrived at Barcelona, they’ve been saying I want to leave. I think people don’t like seeing me here.
“There’s a journalist who wrote many things about me that were lies, saying that I met with the club, that I spoke internally about my indecision, that I didn’t know if I was going to continue or not… He’s a guy who only lies.”
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