Barcelona confirm Munir El Haddadi's loan move to Alaves

Barcelona have confirmed their forward Munir El Haddadi will join Alaves on a season-long loan deal on 1 September.

The La Liga transfer window closed 24 hours after the Premier League transfer window closed. This allowed the two clubs to reach an agreement for the temporary transfer of the 22-year-old attacker.

Munir spent three years with the Catalan club's academy and was then promoted to the senior team in 2014. However, he failed to get regular playing time and former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique sanctioned his loan move to Valencia last summer.

It was earlier reported that Munir had agreed terms with Italian side Torino, while Crystal Palace were also believed to be in the race for the forward's signature. However, no deal took shape as Enrique's successor Ernesto Valverde sanctioned another loan move for the forward to Alaves.

A statement on Barcelona's official website read, "FC Barcelona and Alavés reach an agreement which sees Munir El Haddadi move on loan to the Basque team for the 2017/18 season."

"The striker is also an international with the Spanish national team with whom he made his debut in the Spain v Macedonia match in 2014. Having been loaned to Valencia for the 2016/17 season, Munir will now go on loan to Alavés to continue his development."

Munir signed a contract extension at Camp Nou last summer and his current deal will keep him at Barcelona until 2019. The Spanish giants inserted a €60m (£55.3m, $71.5m) release clause in the contract.

During his time at Valencia, he scored six league goals in 33 appearances. Munir will be hoping to shine for Alaves and return to his parent club in order to become a regular at Barcelona.