Lost in the news that Barcelona would not be re-signing Lionel Messi is the fact the Catalan giants have given up on renewing another one of their players.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona considers midfielder Ilaix Moriba to be as good as gone barring any last-minute change.
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Barcelona set to lose out on the talented midfield prospect
The club had been working on an extension the last couple of weeks but were making little progress as they were unwilling to meet the salary demands laid out by the player’s representatives.
Barcelona set a deadline of August 8 to reach a decision. However, they threw in the towel early after not getting any response back from Ilaix’s camp.
As a result, the 18-year-old has been put on the transfer list with Barcelona hoping to reach a deal with a team sometime next week.
The club believed one of the reasons Ilaix’s camp went silent was because they were negotiating with a Premier League side, more specifically, Chelsea.
Indeed, the Blues appear to be in the lead for the midfielder. Manchester City and Olympique de Marseille are also in the mix.
Ilaix’s contract expires next summer and Barcelona are not going to risk losing him on a free and are going to cave to their financial demands given their financial mess. It would be irresponsible to do so considering it was used as a factor as to why they could not re-sign Messi.
As a way to exert pressure, Ilaix was separated from the first team and has been training with Barça B. He’s traveled with the ‘B’ team but has not taken part in any of their preseason matches.
They expect to be able to get somewhere between €25-€30 million. Ilaix was given his professional debut by Ronald Koeman and quickly became a player of confidence. Now his future looks far away from the Camp Nou.