Ilaix Moriba is edging closer and closer to a move to Leipzig according to Max Bielefeld. The Barcelona starlet had looked close to Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, only for his entourage to tell the Premier League side that it was the Bundesliga that was his desire. The Guinean midfielder will cost Leipzig about €20m and is expected to be a replacement for Marcel Sabitzer.
Ilaix Moriba to RB Leipzig is looking more and more likely. The player’s side told Tottenham yesterday that they have made their choice to join the Bundesliga.
Moriba would be the replacement for Marcel Sabitzer. Fee around 20m€. #TransferUpdate
— Max Bielefeld (@Sky_MaxB) August 29, 2021
Ilaix broke into the first team at Camp Nou last season, earning significant minutes under Ronald Koeman and appearing to have a bright future with the Blaugrana ahead of him. Contract negotiations have rumbled on in the background, however, with his current deal at Barcelona up next summer. Barcelona had to either sell him this summer or risk losing him on a free in 2022; Joan Laporta, a more clinical operator than Josep Maria Bartomeu, his predecessor, was clear that it would be the former.
Ilaix is just 18, and recently decided to switch his international allegiance to the country of his birth, Guinea, from the country where he grew up, Spain. He came through the youth system at La Masia, but looks as if he’ll be pursuing a career elsewhere.
