Moriba Kourouma Kourouma (born 19 January 2003), known as Ilaix Moriba (), is a Guinean professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, on loan from

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

, and the Guinea national team.

Early life

Moriba was born in

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

, to a

Guinean Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

mother and a

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

Krahn The Krahn are an ethnic group of Liberia and Ivory Coast. This group belongs to the Kru language family and its people are sometimes referred to as the Wee, Guéré, Sapo, or Wobe. It is likely that Western contact with the Kru language is the p ...

father. He holds both Spanish and Guinean citizenship.

Club career

Barcelona

Moriba arrived at

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

from

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

in 2010. He has been considered one of the best players of his generation, and he has very often played in categories of players far older than him. Moriba really stood out at age 15 when he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against the Real Madrid U19. The most remarkable feat was his last goal, where he scored from the middle of the pitch at the start of the second half. In January 2019, as his youth contract was about to expire, clubs such as

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

tried to sign him. The following season he became a regular for Barça B. He scored his first goal on 8 March 2020, the winner in a 3–2 victory against

Llagostera Llagostera is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Gironès in Catalonia, Spain. During the 20th century, it was known for the production of cork and derived articles. It is located 20 km south of Girona and 15 km west from the Medi ...

. During the 2020–21 season, Moriba was included in the first team squad for the first time for a

match against

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. He was an unused substitute in a 4–0 away win. Moriba would later make his first team debut – and as a starter – on 21 January against Cornellà in the

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

. He was replaced by

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona, where he is captain. He is considered to be a deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay ...

in the 74th minute of a 2–0 win. On 13 February 2021, he made his La Liga debut in a 5–1 win over Alavés, in which he also provided an assist for Francisco Trincão. He scored his first La Liga goal in a 2–0 away win against

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

on 6 March 2021, to become the fifth youngest scorer in club's history, topped only by

Ansu Fati Anssumane "Ansu" Fati Vieira (born 31 October 2002) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. Fati was born in Guinea-Bissau but chose to represent the Spain national t ...

Bojan Krkić Bojan Krkić Pérez (; sr-Cyrl, Бојан Кркић Перез, ; born 28 August 1990), also known as simply Bojan, is a Spanish professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different t ...

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

and

Pedri Pedro González López (born 25 November 2002), known as Pedri, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. Early life Born in Bajamar, Tenerife, Canary Islan ...

. On 10 March 2021, Moriba made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

debut in a 1–1 draw against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, coming on as a substitute for

in the 79th minute.

RB Leipzig

On 31 August 2021, Moriba joined

side

for a fee of €16 million and €6 million additional in variables. Barcelona also reserved the right to 10% of any future sale.

Loan to Valencia

On 28 January 2022,

announced the signing of Moriba, on a loan until the end of the season. Moriba returned for a second loan for the 2022–23 season.

International career

Moriba is a former youth international with Spain, but he is also eligible for both

and

. He eventually chose to play for the Guinea national team, being set to make his debut on the international stage in June 2020, before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

froze the 2020 football season. On 21 August 2021, Moriba officially chose to change international allegiances from Spain and chose to play with the

Guinea national football team The Guinea national football team ( French: '' Équipe de football du Guinée'') represents Guinea in men's international football and it is controlled by the Guinean Football Federation. They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals, ...

. On 27 December 2021, he was included in Guinea's extended

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

squad. He debuted with the Guinea national team in a 3–0 friendly loss to

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

on 3 January 2022.

Style of play

Due to his physicality and creativity, Moriba has been compared to French footballer

Paul Pogba Paul Labile Pogba (born 15 March 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays for club Juventus and the France national team. He operates primarily as a central midfielder, but can be deployed as a left winger, attacking midfielder, de ...

, whose parents and elder brothers are also from

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Moriba goal.''

Honours

Barcelona *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriba, Ilaix 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Conakry Guinean footballers Guinea international footballers Spanish footballers Footballers from Catalonia Association football midfielders Spain youth international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Spanish people of Guinean descent Spanish people of Liberian descent Sportspeople of Liberian descent Guinean people of Liberian descent Guinean emigrants to Spain Segunda División B players La Liga players Bundesliga players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Valencia CF players RB Leipzig players Spanish expatriate footballers Guinean expatriate footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany