The 18-year-old midfielder rose through the youth ranks at Barcelona before making his first-team debut in the 2020/21 season.
The last few months in Barcelona have been the hardest of Moriba’s life
RB Leipzig’s new signing Ilaix Moriba has openly criticised his treatment at former club Barcelona before leaving for Germany, highlighting that many lies have been told regarding his decision to leave. The 18-year-old midfielder rose through the youth ranks at Barcelona before making his first-team debut in the 2020/21 season. Following this rise to prominence at the club, Ilaix Moriba looked like another success story from the famous La Masia academy. However, after disagreeing on a new contract, he joined RB Leipzig for a fee of 16 million euros. “The last few months have been the hardest of my life, we my family have received abusive messages, but we have been able to get over it to be here today,” Moriba explained in his first interview since leaving Barcelona. “I don’t deserve these messages.”
The things those at Barca have said in the press have not been fair for Ilaix
Many have made Ilaix Moriba out to be the perpetrator of this move and having a sincere desire to leave the club. Leipzig’s new-signing then spoke of the difficulty he had in maintaining composure with all of the noise going on around him. “The people at the club have said many things that are not true, and we have had to keep tight-lipped because of the respect that we have for Barcelona,” the youngster explained. “The things that they have said in the press have not been fair.” During his short time at Camp Nou, Ilaix Moriba followed the same path set by Ansu Fati and, more recently, Pedri, who have both made huge impacts on the Barcelona first team despite their young age.
“I have improved at Barcelona with the support of the fans, but over the past few months, they have not known how to behave,” Moriba continued. “I am not going to judge the whole fanbase based on these few people and I will always have Barcelona in my heart; it has been a complicated few months, but it has passed, and I wish the best for the club, especially to Ansu, as I have seen that they have given him the No.10 shirt and he’s the most suitable one to wear it, I wish him the best.” Moriba’s well wishes followed the news that Ansu Fati would wear the shirt vacated by former player and club legend Lionel Messi. Ilaix Moriba himself is looking to kick on now and get started at his new club.