{"id":4100,"date":"2026-04-14T07:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/4100\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:36:12","slug":"barcelona-to-compete-with-real-madrid-in-the-race-to-sign-moroccan-midfield-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/4100\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona to compete with Real Madrid in the race to sign Moroccan midfield sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the season soon coming to a close, Barcelona have kickstarted their preparations for the new campaign.<\/p>\n<p>While the club are desperately looking for a new centre-back and a striker, they have also been linked with a move for a new midfielder, especially if Marc Casado ends up leaving.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Recent reports suggest the young midfielder has decided to <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-midfielder-decides-to-leave-the-club-set-for-e20-million-saudi-arabia-move-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:leave Barcelona;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;leave Barcelona&quot;}\" class=\"link \">leave Barcelona<\/a> amid a lack of game time. His potential exit could pave the way for a new addition, and that is where Neil El Aynaoui comes into the fray.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona eye market opportunity for Aynaoui<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/africa-claro-barca-acelera-pulmon-129049696\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Diario SPORT;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Diario SPORT&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Diario SPORT<\/a>, Barcelona have intensified their pursuit of Aynaoui as they closely monitor his situation at AS Roma.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old Moroccan international burst onto the global scene at the Africa Cup of Nations, where his performances were instrumental in guiding Morocco to the final of the tournament.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"780\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/064482aaa08d3e9ff90d97751aef9f7d.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Next big thing in Moroccan football? (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>His combination of physicality and technical elegance drew comparisons to some of the game\u2019s finest midfielders, with the player himself having cited childhood idol Andres Iniesta as his primary influence.<\/p>\n<p>Despite arriving at Roma last summer from RC Lens for around \u20ac23 million, El Aynaoui has struggled for consistent minutes under Gian Piero Gasperini, barely exceeding 600 Serie A minutes this season.<\/p>\n<p>That situation has not gone unnoticed, and Barcelona believe it represents a genuine market opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>For Deco and the sporting management, El Aynaoui offers the physical and technical balance needed to rotate with Pedri, who has been heavily relied upon throughout the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>However, Barcelona will not have a clear run. Real Madrid are also monitoring his situation, and RB Leipzig have already initiated preliminary contacts.<\/p>\n<p>With the player valued at around \u20ac20 million, the race is well and truly on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the season soon coming to a close, Barcelona have kickstarted their preparations for the new campaign. While&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2982,2985,92,1867,82,2983,2981,664,2986,2984,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-4100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-madrid","8":"tag-andres-iniesta","9":"tag-as-roma","10":"tag-barcelona","11":"tag-diario-sport","12":"tag-madrid","13":"tag-moroccan-international","14":"tag-neil-el-aynaoui","15":"tag-pedri","16":"tag-rb-leipzig","17":"tag-rc-lens","18":"tag-real-madrid"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}