Barcelona youngster emerges as a priority target for Real Betis

With Barcelona looking to generate revenue from player sales this summer, youngster Ez Abde is among the names who could be shown the doors in the coming weeks.

The 21-year-old winger spent the 2022/23 campaign on loan at CA Osasuna where he enjoyed a solid spell. In 34 games, he scored six goals and set up two more to help his team finish seventh in La Liga and make it to the finals of the Copa del Rey.

Given his exploits, it was initially anticipated that Xavi and Barcelona could decide to integrate the Moroccan ace into the first-team squad for next season, especially with players like Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres likely to be sold.

However, that is not the case and the Blaugrana are understood to be open to selling Abde if good offers come in for him.

Amidst this, AS is reporting that Barça’s La Liga rivals Real Betis have made him one of their priority targets for the summer transfer window.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men are looking to reinforce their squad in multiple positions and have identified Abde as the main target to strengthen the wide areas.

Betis recently appointed former Barcelona technical secretary Ramon Planes as their sporting director. It was Planes who had signed Abde at the Catalan club back in 2021 from Hercules CF and is now lining up a move to take him to Betis.

However, the catch is that Los Verdiblancos are only looking to sign Abde on loan, whereas Barcelona hope to offload him permanently and rake in more than €25 million from his departure.

But if no such offers arrive, another loan exit cannot be ruled out, while the option of him staying at the club also remains on the table, especially if the La Liga champions do not sign Yannick Carrasco from Atletico Madrid.