Leeds United 'on track' to land Raphinha, but deal is still not done

The 23-year-old arrived at Elland Road this evening for talks about a transfer from Rennes, which is expected to be worth around £15.5m up front, with a further £5.5m add-ons.

Having missed out on Swansea City's Dan James at the 11th hour in January 2019, Kinnear was reluctant to speak too soon, but he struck an optimistic note while in conversation with Sky Sports News with just over an hour left until the 11pm international transfer deadline.

“We think we've had a really good window, really pleased with the business we've done, both from a youth perspective, resigning the players that were core to the squad last year and signing some top-class international talent to compliment what we already have,” he said.

“Hopefully there's maybe one more bit of good news left this evening.”

Leeds broke their transfer record to sign £27m striker Rodrigo in September, and have also added central defenders Robin Koch and Diego Llorente.

Asked about Raphinha, Kinnear said: “It's on track. At this stage it's difficult to be too positive because we've been down this road before and things haven't gone well at the last minute.

"We're pretty confident we can get it over the line by the time the deadline comes.”

Kinnear was much more bullish when asked about rumours Roma wanted to take Leeds' sporting director, Victor Orta, who has overseen their transfer business.

“Victor's been a massive part of our success and we're not letting him go,” Kinnear added.