What's the story?
Out of favor Barcelona striker Munir El Haddadi has officially left the Catalan club for Sevilla, Barcelona announced on their Twitter account earlier today.
In case you didn't know...
Munir was born in Madrid, Spain and made his way up the ranks of several local clubs before eventually making it to Atletico Madrid's youth academy and finally Barcelona's La Masia. Munir spent just one season at Barca B and scored 8 goals in 28 appearances for the club. He was also part of the Barcelona U19 squad that won the inaugural UEFA Youth League where he scored a record 11 goals.
He joined Barcelona's main team in August 2014 against Elche. He even scored in his debut match and joined the main team on a permanent basis. He was loaned out to Valencia and then Alaves after two seasons with Barca and has fallen out of favor since returning.
The heart of the matter
Munir will depart Barca after 4 and a half seasons with the senior side, including two season-long loan spells at Valencia and Alaves respectively.
Sevilla will be paying Barcelona €1,050,000 to secure the permanent services of the player, the club explained in a post on their website wishing the player best of luck for his future.
Munir was earmarked as one of the most promising talents in the world. Although he is yet to do anything of note, he is just 23 years old and has age on his side. His move to Sevilla can be a career revival for him. He was used as a regular starter at both Valencia and Alaves and even enjoyed a prolific season at Alaves netting 14 goals in 37 appearances.
Breaking into Sevilla's first team will be much harder though as the team already has a couple of in-form strikers in Wissam Ben Yedder and Andre Silva. But considering that Andre Silva's loan ends at the end of this season, Munir might break into the starting XI.
What's next?
Hopefully, the transfer will rejuvenate Munir's career and he will be allowed to unleash his true potential.