The curious situation of Barcelona wonderkid Ilaix Moriba

Youngster Ilaix Moriba has recently been called up to the first team of Barcelona. There is a huge form of expectation and excitement that is built around this young talent all over the Nou Camp. Huge things are expected of this young footballer given the potential of talent he does have under his belt.

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Moriba made his senior debut in January 2021 during Barcelona’s Copa del Rey tie against Cornella, which they ended up winning with ease. He also made another appearance against Alaves recently where he landed an assist. The youngster put in a total of 64 minutes against Alaves and was then substituted. He is being fairly eased into the side by manager Ronald Koeman who seems to trust the player.

However, according to Football Espana, the youngster was barred from joining Spain under 19 team. The Spaniards had an international fixture against Denmark which was missed by Ilaix as the Catalans did not allow him to leave for the game.

The reason behind this was to have him be involved in the tie against Elche in the La Liga but strangely that was not the case either. The youngster basically did not end up playing any of those fixtures and spend his time on the bench at Barca.

While a strange decision by the coach, Moriba did feature against Sevilla in La Liga right before the two sides clash once again in the second leg tie of the Spanish cup fixture. Many were asking why Koeman didn’t play Riqui Puig instead of Moriba when he replaced an injured Pedri, but it might have been because Ilaix was awaiting a chance for ages.

Many believe that Iliax will be filling in for Miralem Pjanic who does not seem to be a part of Koeman’s plans anytime soon. The 18-year-old already linked up with Lionel Messi which led to the second goal against Sevilla and Koeman looks to improve on this relationship for the rest of the season.

The youngster plays as a playmaker and has huge potential, which has led Barcelona to slam a 100 million euro release clause on him. He’s been at La Masia since he was 7 after he moved from Espanyol. It looks like he’s got a ton of potential and a bright future and the Catalans are surely nurturing him in a patient manner.

Are you excited to watch Moriba?