£19m former wonderkid hasn’t played a single league game this season as Tottenham snub backfires

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Tottenham Hotspur tried to sign Ilaix Moriba in 2021 and the RB Leipzig midfielder may now regret not making the move to North London.

Tottenham have started to accumulate some real talent for the future in recent times.

The likes of Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie and Pape Matar Sarr have all arrived in recent years and not only have big futures, but are shining in the Premier League right now too.

New signing Radu Dragusin seems to fit that same bill and one Bundesliga talent may regret not choosing a move to Tottenham now…

Ilaix Moriba still struggling after Tottenham snub

Fans may remember a late flurry in the summer of 2021 as Tottenham attempted a double swoop on Barcelona.

One half of the deal came off as right back Emerson Royal arrived in North London, but the other half ended up in Germany.

Midfielder Ilaix Moriba had generated some real hype at Barcelona had even earned comparisons to Yaya Toure having shown major potential as a box-to-box midfielder.

Tottenham decided to move for Moriba alongside Emerson but the midfielder didn’t feel quite as enamoured by the move to Spurs.

Instead, Moriba joined RB Leipzig – and Sky Germany reported that he rejected Tottenham in favour of joining the Bundesliga side.

RB Leipzig paid around €22million (£19million) to sign Moriba and hopes were high as he made his big move.

However, reports just over three months after his arrival suggested that Moriba was already desperate to leave RB Leipzig, setting the tone for his time at the club.

Moriba ended up spending 18 months on loan at Valencia, scoring just one goal in 46 games before returning to RB Leipzig over the summer.

The 21-year-old still hasn’t made an impact in Germany and didn’t make a single league appearance before being sent on loan to Getafe earlier this month.

Moriba’s international commitments with Guinea mean that he hasn’t yet made his Getafe debut and therefore hasn’t played a single minute of club football this season.

Moriba is currently looking like a player who just won’t live up to the hype and he may wonder what could have been if he had joined Spurs.

The midfielder Tottenham signed instead – the aforementioned Sarr – has grown into a Premier League star under Ange Postecoglou this season and the sky appears to be the limit for him.

Tottenham will be very, very happy with how things have turned out and Moriba must now look to get his career back on track with another loan move back to Spain.