Transfer saga is over, and both sides are happy. Sort of. After contract dispute with Barcelona, young Guinean Ilax Moriba decided to change the environment, and signed for last year’s second placed Bundesliga club RB Leipzig. A five-year contract is worth 2 billion Ksh with additional bonuses, and Barcelona managed to squeeze in 10% of future sale. And considering that “buy young and cheap and sell for profit” is Leipzig’s moto, there will be a next sale.Bienvenido, @IlaixMK! 🤙#HereWeGoMoriba #DeadlineDay pic.twitter.com/fsoGugZgtV— RB Leipzig (@RBLeipzig) August 31, 2021 But only if Moriba continues to impress in his new team as he did with Barcelona. Young Guinean is arguably one of the brightest Barcelona’s talents (Pedri not included), but it was just not meant to be. Moriba will get a wage increase, and the player, his father and agent are happy. RB Salzburg is also happy, as Moriba would be either off the market completely, or would command a huge fee. Barcelona is semi-happy, since they wanted to extend the player. But, at least both parties avoided the worst case scenario, which at one point looked likely to happen, and that would be: Moriba on the stand for the whole year, without even playing for B team, and then a free transfer in June 2022.“My advice is that money isn’t the most important thing at his age, it’s playing games. The player and his people think differently and I’m disappointed with that. That’s not the most important thing” said Koeman last week, when asked about the young Guinean.Barca’s Moriba switching alliances from Spain to GuineaBarcelona already had a similar situation with Moriba, when the Guinean had to sign his first contract. He was 16 at the time and was able to sign as a professional. His former agent, Jonathan Barnett of Stellar Group, wanted to take him to Manchester City. But, Eric Abidal, the then director of football and Moriba’s father Mammady had a great personal understanding, since both are devoted Muslims, and the deal was struck. This time, even religion wouldn’t help.
