Barcelona Relieved as Al-Hilal Targets Salah Instead of Raphinha

Barcelona’s battle to keep Raphinha has taken an unexpected turn – and this time, the help is coming from Saudi Arabia, not from within Catalonia.

For weeks, the Brazilian’s name has hovered over the club like a storm cloud. A lavish move to the Saudi Pro League, fronted by Al-Hilal’s money and ambition, looked less like speculation and more like an inevitability waiting for the right moment. The expectation was clear: once the 2026 FIFA World Cup dust settled, the Saudis would be back for him.

Now the picture looks very different.

Salah becomes the headline act

According to SPORT, Al-Hilal have shifted their primary focus to Mohamed Salah, accelerating efforts to prise the Liverpool icon away from Anfield. The club have put a bold offer on the table: a three-year contract, with an option for a fourth, and a net salary of €20 million per season.

That figure mirrors the package believed to have been lined up for Raphinha. Same money, different star.

Raphinha remains on Al-Hilal’s shortlist, but he is no longer the centrepiece of their project. Salah has stepped into that role, and with that, Barcelona’s most immediate fear – losing one of Hansi Flick’s key wide forwards this summer – has eased.

Raphinha’s reality: rehab, not negotiations

For Raphinha, the noise around his future is, for now, background. His focus sits elsewhere: on the treatment table, in the gym, and out on the training pitch.

The winger is in the middle of an intensive rehabilitation schedule, working through three sessions a day as he races against the clock. The target is clear: be fit in time to feature in a potential World Cup quarter-final on July 5, assuming Brazil navigate their next knockout tie.

Recent reports suggested the Brazilian had asked Al-Hilal to revisit talks once his World Cup campaign with Brazil was over. That request underlined that the door to Saudi Arabia was not closed, only delayed. But with Al-Hilal now pouring their energy into Salah, the urgency around those conversations has faded.

For Barcelona, that change in timing matters.

Echoes of 2024 – but a different outcome?

This is not the first time Al-Hilal have tried to turn Raphinha’s head. The first major push came in the summer of 2024, just after Hansi Flick walked through the doors at Spotify Camp Nou.

Back then, the Saudis came armed with a staggering proposal: a three-year contract worth €100 million net. The numbers were so extreme that Raphinha himself later admitted the offer forced him to seriously question his future in Spain. It was the sort of deal that tests a player’s resolve as much as his loyalty.

Barcelona survived that assault. They kept a winger who, under Flick, has grown into one of the most important pieces in the attacking structure. His work rate without the ball, his aggression in one‑v‑one situations, his ability to stretch defences – these are not luxuries in this Barça side, they are necessities.

That is why any fresh attempt from Al-Hilal immediately set alarm bells ringing again.

This time, though, the dynamic is subtly different. With Salah now the marquee objective and Al-Hilal’s financial and sporting focus shifting, the pressure on Barcelona has relented. Raphinha is still admired, still an option, but no longer the first name on the Saudi agenda.

For a club wrestling with finances and rebuilding under a new coach, that small change in priority could prove decisive.

The question now is simple: with the immediate threat receding, can Barcelona turn this window of calm into a longer-term commitment from one of Flick’s most trusted weapons?