Former Barcelona midfielder Ilaix Moriba has professed his love for the Catalan club and revealed his regrets about some of his actions in the past. The Guinean was one of the most promising midfield talents to come out of Barca’s youth academy La Masia before he fell out with the club.
Dutch manager Ronald Koeman promoted Moriba to the first team after a series of stellar performances for the junior teams. The youngster was handed his senior debut two days shy of his 18th birthday, and he quickly became a matchday regular for Barcelona.
Moriba was well on his way to becoming the next big thing at Barcelona when, in 2021, he entered into a contract stand-off with the club. The then-teenager wanted Barca to pay him a lot more than they proposed and the club refused.
As his contract neared its expiry, Koeman decided to demote Moriba, who had not budged in his negotiations with the club. He joined RB Leipzig in the summer of 2021 before securing two loan spells at Valencia.
Now on loan at Getafe, Moriba told
“I have made mistakes in my life. I have a great love for Barcelona, the club of my life. I made mistakes in past and now I’m at a point where I want everyone to see the player they once saw.”
The youngster did not play a single minute in the first half of the season for RB Leipzig and has joined Getafe with a lot to prove. He will look to work closely with Mason Greenwood to help the club achieve its goals this season.
Getafe are in 10th place in La Liga after a mixed first half of the season and have the quality to finish higher up the standings.
Barcelona reject possibility of Mbappe transfer
Barcelona sporting director Deco has claimed that the club will not be pursuing a deal for Kylian Mbappe in the summer. With his contract set to expire at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the end of the season, Mbappe is expected to join another team, likely one from Spain, in the summer.
In a chat with ESport3, the former Barcelona star revealed that Barca do not intend to sign Mbappe. He also cleared the air on rumors regarding the potential sales of Ronald Araujo and Frenkie De Jong to fund a move for Mbappe.
“I don’t know what will happen with Mbappe. It would be a mistake to sell [Ronald] Araujo and Frenkie [de Jong]. I would like to improve the squad and not make it worse. I think it would be worse for the team if Araujo and Frenkie left and Mbappe came.”
Mbappe is seemingly nearing a move to Spain, where he will joinReal Madrid.
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