Barcelona wonder kid, Ilaix Morbia, almost joined Manchester City before securing his career with the Catalan side. In an interview with SPORT, the player’s father opened up about his son almost joining the English giants.
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Morbia who is just 18 years of age has finally managed to break into Barcelona’s first team. The central midfielder has been highly rated by the Catalan club and he is showing his worth. He has already scored his first goal for the main side and has also produced two assists in just three games in La Liga.
His playstyle has been compared to the likes of Manchester United‘s Paul Pogba as he is showing the same skills and flair that the French superstar possesses. He has good holding ability but he also has the ability to carry the ball forward and unleashing a powerful shot. He showed that in the match against Osasuna when he scored his first goal for the Catalan’s main team.
Barcelona rising star almost left the club for Manchester City in 2019.
In a recent interview, his father, Mamady Kourouma, said that he had to cancel his son’s flight to Manchester in the last moments as he realized that Barcelona was the place for his son after all. He said in the interview,
"“With Barca, the negotiations [over his first professional contract] did not advance. We met with Txiki Begiristain [Man City sporting director] and he explained his entire project to us.“We liked it because they bet a lot on him. A few weeks later we had the tickets to travel to Manchester and sign the contract.“I cancelled it the morning that we had to go there. I wanted Ilaix to be an example and a reference for the next generations of Barca.Source SPORT"
Moriba’s father said that the main reason as to why the player had even considered joining City was due to the project they had offered him. No doubt the player’s style reminded Pep Guardiola of a younger Yaya Toure. However, he managed to make an agreement with his own club and thus he decided to stay on.
His decision has paid off as well and he is one of the youngest players to have played for the Catalan Kings. His performance against Osasuna may have impressed the boss enough to even get him another game. He could very well feature in the game against Huesca, which is a must-win game as a win would throw the league race wide open once again.
Do you think Ilaix Moriba will feature in the match against Huesca?