Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has issued a firm warning to teenage midfielder Ilaix Moriba over his future at the club.
Moriba, who broke into Koeman’s plans with a La Liga debut in 2020/21, has formed part of an upcoming chain of young stars from their infamous La Masia Academy.
However, with the 18-year-old’s current contract at the Camp Nou set to expire in 2022, he has been locked in talks with the club over an extension since the start of 2021.
Moriba’s representatives are rumoured to be pushing for a significant salary increase as part of a long term deal, with La Blaugrana unwilling to meet their demands, and Koeman warned the Spanish U17 international over the situation.
“I spoke with him two or three weeks ago. More as a person than as a coach. His (Moriba’s) situation is horrible”, as per reports from Marca.
“My advice is that money is not the most important thing at this stage of his career.
“It is playing games. I am very disappointed because it is not the most important thing.”
Moriba has been training with the club’s B team during preseason in recent weeks with Koeman standing strong on his freezing out of the player.
He is not expected to be involved in first team action again until a solution has been reached over his future in Catalonia.