Ilaix Moriba subjected to racial abuse after stalling contract with Barcelona

Barcelona is a club that are booming with young talents in every position. We have the likes of Ansu Fati up top, Pedri in the middle, and players like Ronald Araujo, Oscar Mingueza, and Eric Garcia manning the defence. However, they are not the only talented youngsters in the squad, and talents such as Ilaix Moriba and Riqui Puig could be contemplating a move away due to their lack of involvement in the first team.

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While Puig has been vocal about his desire to continue at the Nou Camp despite a lack of playtime, Ilaix Moriba is yet to show the same passion amidst an expiring contract. Iliax’s current contract expires in 2022 and with the club struggling financially, Moriba will have to accept a wage cut in order to extend his stay. Unfortunately for the Catalans, Moriba is yet to accept a wage cut in order to continue and this has caused extreme backlash from some fans, and the youngster has even received racist remarks from some individuals.

The 18-year-old midfielder had a decent season in the 2020/21 season. He was not one of the youngsters who got a proper breakthrough season; however, he was used a few times by Ronald Koeman. He got his debut goal and debut assist for Barcelona’s first team last season, and he is looking for even more game time in the next season. This is of course something Barcelona cannot promise him, as the Catalan midfield is full of amazing talents, and it will take something extraordinary from Ilaix Moriba to become a starter.

Due to this reason, the La Masia graduate is exploring his options, with the possibility of a few Premier League clubs being interested in his services. Barcelona value him as a player, and he could become one of the best in the future, however, at the moment the midfield is too saturated with stars.

Barcelona youngster Ilaix Moriba was subjected to racial abuse.

Due to Moriba’s stalling of a new contract, some people decided to comment and message hateful racist obscenities towards him. Moriba made a TikTok video, showing us some of these messages, and the video ended with the words, “en serio”, which translates to ‘Seriously ?’ in English.

This sort of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable and distasteful. In the 21st century, when everyone is preaching and striving for peace and harmony, such behaviour shows us that there is still a feeling of racial superiority within some people. Many footballers have been subjected to such attacks recently, and the situation with Marcus Rashford comes to mind. The world is filled with great people however, bigots and trolls exist as well, and no amount of education seems to be working.

As for Moriba, the main reason why he is not signing a new contract, according to GOAL, is his wages. He thinks he deserves more than he is being offered, and the playtime is also an issue. With teams such as Chelsea, Manchester City, and Real Madrid following the situation, Barcelona should close the negotiations, as quickly as possible. Moriba is a great central midfielder, and he has been compared to the likes of Paul Pogba. Losing him would be a great inconvenience for Barca, and it could hurt them deeply in the long run.