THE father of Ilaix Moriba has revealed he cancelled his son’s flight to Manchester City so the teen could remain at Barcelona.

Moriba, now 20, burst into Ronald Koeman’s team in 2019 and was tipped for a bright future with the Catalans.

However, he chose to leave the Camp Nou in 2021 and joined RB Leipzig for around £16million after a row over his contract.

He had a two-year spell on-loan with LaLiga giants Valencia, and his future is currently in limbo in Germany.

Moriba was put up for sale in the summer, although there were no takers.

But, Moriba came close to joining Pep Guardiola at City when doubts emerged over a Barca deal back in 2019.

The Spain youth international, who plays internationally for Guinea, had even booked a plane ticket to the Etihad as he searched for his first professional contract.

However, Moriba’s dad Mamady Kourouma cancelled the ticket on the morning of the flight after a breakthrough in contract talks with Barca.

He told Sport: “With Barcelona, the negotiations did not advance. We met with Txiki Begiristain [City’s sporting director] and he explained his entire project to us.

“We liked it because they bet a lot on him. A few weeks later we had the tickets to travel to Manchester and sign the contract.

“I cancelled it the morning that we had to go there. I wanted Ilaix to be an example and a reference for the next generations of Barcelona.

“His friends were gone. If he stayed, it was proof Barca was betting on the youth players. We managed to reach an agreement where we all came out winning.”

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Barcelona indeed proved their determination to keep Moriba, making him the best-paid player in the history of their academy while handing him an £90million release clause.

Manchester United were thought to be eager to sign him as Paul Pogba’s long-term replacement.

While Chelsea were also said to be keeping tabs with N’Golo Kante’s power waning.

However, he chose to continue his development in the Bundesliga.

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