Ilaix Moriba was in London for transfer talks last weekend with Premier League giants Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur potential destinations for the Barcelona contract-rebel, as reported by Mundo Deportivo.
If Moriba plans to play any sort of first-team football this season, then he only has two choices available to him.
Either he signs a new deal at Barcelona or he finds another club before next week’s transfer deadline.
Given that Moriba and Barca appear to be poles apart in negotiations – the midfielder’s camp are requesting a pay rise he is never going to get in this financial climate – a late-summer departure appears to be the most likely solution to a problem the crisis-hit Catalans really could have done without.
Is Ilaix Moriba heading to London?
According to 90Min, Moriba’s representatives have been in talks with a number of Premier League clubs, including Everton, Wolves, Leicester City and Liverpool.
But with Mundo Deportivo claiming that the 18-year-old play-maker spent the weekend in London, something tells us he wasn’t in the English capital to check out Madame Tussauds or to take a trip on the London Eye.
The report does not mention which of the London clubs – Arsenal, Spurs or West Ham United – are currently leading the race for a midfielder who has been labelled ‘a young Paul Pogba’ due to his combination of fearsome technical skills and eye-catching athleticism.
They do say that Chelsea have been following the £21 million-rated Moriba for ‘several years’, however, adding that the Premier League pacesetters could loan out the La Masia graduate if he fails to obtain the requisite work permit.
“If Ilaix does not change his position, he has no future in this club,” said Barcelona’s vice-president Rafa Yuste of a man who has been left out of Ronald Koeman’s first-team plans so far this term.
“For me, what Ilaix and his camp are doing is a mistake.”
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