RB Leipzig likely destination for Ilaix Moriba

Bundesliga side have already made an informal offer for the player

Posted Saturday, August 21, 2021 by Marca.com

The next casualty of Barcelona's nightmare summer will be young talent Ilaix Moriba, with RB Leipzig likely to sign the Spaniard before the transfer window closes.

Ronald Koeman practically admitted in his Friday press conference that it's impossible for the La Masia graduate to continue with the club after the football rejected the renewal offer handed to him by the Blaugrana earlier this summer.

Ilaix's promising debut season in Catalonia was one of the bright points of Koeman's tenure thus far, and it was not a surprise that there were a list of clubs willing to sign him.

RB Leipzig though, were the first to make a move and have spoken with Barcelona's technical department to register their interest a make an informal first offer.

Negotiations between the two clubs are now underway, although it's understood Los Cules are hoping to receive a fee of around 15 million euros for the player.

Joan Laporta is determined to bring an end to the era of crazy spending that was overseen by Sandro Rosell and then Josep Maria Bartomeu, and this includes pandering to agents and players looking to secure their fiscal futures quickly before they've really achieved anything.

Barcelona's position with Moriba has thus been very clear: they believe they made a fair renewal offer which took into account the club's perilous financial state and if the player rejected it, he wouldn't play a single minute in 2021/22.

Barcelona were unwilling to invest any more time in a player only for another club to benefit in the summer of 2022, and he wouldn't have even been permitted to train with the senior squad.

With Moriba set to sign for the Bundesliga club, Barcelona will now look to formalise the exits of Samuel Umtiti and Miralem Pjanic before the transfer window closes in 10 days.