Ed Woodward sanctions move for Barcelona wonderkid with ‘firm offer’ lodged

Man Utd: Solskjaer previews Manchester derby

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Manchester United have reportedly made a ‘firm offer’ for the latest wonderkid off Barcelona’s famed La Masia production line, Ilaix Moriba. The 18-year-old has long been pinpointed as a generational talent, playing years ahead of his age at development stage.

After spending the last two seasons playing for Barcelona B, Ronald Koeman has integrated him into the first-team setup this term.

Ilaix has made four appearances in total for the Blaugranes and is set to now follow the same path to teammate Ansu Fati into a regular at the Camp Nou.

However, with just over a year remaining on his contract with the La Liga giants, speculation is beginning to surface about his long-term future.

His current contract, which is believed to have a release clause set at €100million, was signed back in January 2019 and expires at the end of next season.

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Mundo Deportivo claim that Ilaix is garnering interest across Europe, with United and RB Leipzig having already launched firm offers.

The report suggests that the youngster is keen to stay under Koeman’s guidance, not wanting to miss ‘the party’ atmosphere the Dutchman is building in Catalonia.

The Barca boss has admitted that the midfielder, who has been compared to current Red Devils star Paul Pogba, is a serious option to help his team.

He said: “Ilaix is one of the youngsters that we have. He has played some games with Barca B also, he’s been training with the first team and has had a good impact in some games.

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“There are lots of players in midfeld, so he is one more that can help the squad a lot

“But it’s true we have some youngsters that are fighting to get a place.”

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is planning another revamp of his squad in the upcoming windows, with his side trailing Manchester City by 14 points in the Premier League table.

Solskjaer has once again been backed by Old Trafford chief Ed Woodward, who claimed there is ‘bullish optimism’ about the future of the club under the Norwegian.

“The progress made by Ole and the players this season is clear,” he said.

“While we are pleased about this season’s on-pitch progress and the strength of our current squad, we are equally bullish on our long-term prospects.”

And Solskjaer believes that United’s position in the table has fully justified the support he has received from those in charge of the club.

“You’d like to win every game of football but if you compare to last season, the position we’re in, we are quite a bit higher up in the league at the same stage, still in Europe and the FA Cup,” Solskjaer said.

“It’s the league position, you think that’s where we’ve shown progress. Hopefully, we can prove in the Europa League and FA Cup that we’ve taken another further step for this team.

“The ambitions are there, we have more experience to be in this position compared to last season, we are gelling more as a team, we are fitter.

So at the moment we’re just looking at the short-term, Sunday, and that is to get back to creating chances, taking them and scoring goals again.”

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