Barcelona Relieved as Al-Hilal Shifts Focus to Salah

Barcelona have been waiting for bad news all summer. For once, it has not arrived.

Raphinha, one of Hansi Flick’s key attacking pillars, looked to be edging closer to the Saudi Pro League, with Al-Hilal circling and serious money on the table. The expectation was clear: when the 2026 FIFA World Cup dust settled, the Saudi giants would come again and come hard.

Now the picture has shifted. And sharply.

Al-Hilal change course

According to SPORT, Al-Hilal have stepped up their pursuit of Mohamed Salah, placing the Liverpool star at the top of their wishlist and easing the immediate threat to Barcelona’s Brazilian winger.

Raphinha has sat on Al-Hilal’s shortlist for months. They admire his profile, his work rate, his end product. He was never a passing fancy. But he is no longer the only, nor the main, obsession.

The Saudi club have put forward a bold proposal for Salah: a three-year contract with an option for a fourth and a net salary of €20 million per season. It is the same financial framework they were believed to have prepared for Raphinha, now redirected towards Anfield.

That change in priority matters in Barcelona’s offices. It buys time. It cools the temperature around one of Flick’s most important forwards.

Raphinha’s focus stays on Brazil and recovery

There had been suggestions in recent weeks that Raphinha had asked Al-Hilal to pick up negotiations once his World Cup duties with Brazil were over. The door was not shut. Far from it.

On the player’s side, though, the present is dominated by a race against the clock, not a race for a contract.

Raphinha is currently immersed in an intensive rehabilitation programme, working through three training sessions a day as he battles to return in time for a possible World Cup quarter-final on July 5, assuming Brazil take care of business in their next knockout tie. His horizon is short-term: get fit, get back, stay on the pitch.

For Barcelona, that single-mindedness is welcome. Every day the conversation is about his recovery, not his departure, is a small victory.

A familiar threat, briefly defused

This is not Al-Hilal’s first attempt to prise Raphinha away from Catalonia.

In the summer of 2024, shortly after Hansi Flick arrived at Camp Nou, the Saudi club launched an audacious offensive. Reports at the time spoke of a three-year deal worth €100 million net. Numbers that make any player stop and think. Raphinha later admitted as much, acknowledging that the offer forced him to seriously weigh up his future.

He stayed. But the warning shot was clear: Saudi money was not going away.

This time, the dynamic feels different. With Al-Hilal now concentrating their financial and sporting firepower on Salah, the immediate pressure around Raphinha’s future has eased. The Brazilian remains an attractive option for them, a name that will not disappear from their lists, yet he is no longer the first name underlined in red.

For Barcelona, that subtle change could be decisive. It does not guarantee Raphinha’s long-term stay. It does not close the market. But it shifts the spotlight, at least for now, and gives Flick a better chance of starting the new season with one less storm to manage on his right wing.