For the past few weeks, the Catalan media have been engaged in a character assassination of Ilaix Moriba.
The 18-year-old has a Barcelona contract expiring less than a year from now, and has rejected multiple renewal offers. That’s seen claims he could be used as an example to other La Masia players, to discourage similar situations arising in the future.
Banishing Moriba to the stands for a season, and harming his development in the process, was being presented as the way forward. However, Barcelona’s financial situation means they can’t realistically say no to a reasonable offer this summer.
That’s where Tottenham come in.
Saturday’s edition of Mundo Deportivo has a big article on a potential move to Tottenham for Moriba, and they sound confident about it.
RB Leipzig have been keen, but the Bundesliga side want to wait until next summer and get the youngster on a free transfer. Barcelona much prefer the idea of selling to Spurs this summer, and it’s said talks with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have ‘accelerated’, and that’s happened ‘in recent hours’.
The player is ‘attracted’ by a move to Tottenham, however, the only concern raised in the article is Leipzig. Moriba’s camp already had an agreement with the German club, and Spurs would presumably need to match the financial aspect.
Barcelona want €20m, and Tottenham are ‘close’ to that figure.
