Moha el Ouriachi turns down Barça's contract offer and will sign for Stoke City

Barça B will not be able to count on one of La Masia's most promising players next season. Moha el Ouriachi's contract expires on June 30 and he has taken the decision to leave FC Barcelona and sign for Premier League side Stoke City. 

Moha was born in Morocco in 1996, but moved to Spain with his family when he was three. He joined Barcelona when he was 14. A tall and quick winger, he has been capped by La Roja at youth level, but has never hid his desire to represent the country of his birth. 

There was an offer on the table from Barça for Moha to continue with the club beyond Juvenil A, but he preferred to move to England. 

Stoke have been chasing the player for a while and Barça were aware of the contact between them and Moha. The English side will have to pay a formation fee for the player, which they will do as they are keen to maintain a good relationship with the Catalan club. 

The proposal from Stoke is that the 19-year-old will go straight into their first team setup, a big step from youth team football with the Blaugrana. 

Moha's agent, Raúl Verdú, has "thanked Barcelona for the way they have treated [Moha] as a footballer and the effort they put in trying to get him to renew his deal, but there was another offer which was interesting both professionally and economically.

"It was a great opportunity because Moha now has the chance to go straight into Stoke's first team and that was not something he could turn down." 

At the Britannia Stadium he will link up with former Barcelona players Bojan Krkic and Marc Muniesa, while manager Mark Hughes also spent some of his playing career at Camp Nou.