Barcelona open to loaning 20-year-old defender amid offers from Spain, Netherlands | OneFootball

Chadi Riad was one of the standout performers for Barcelona Atletic in the 2022/23 campaign, making a solid impression with his displays for Rafa Marquez’s side.

On the back of his impressive performances, Riad even received a call-up to the Moroccan national team recently.

However, despite there being contrary suggestions, a spot in the Barcelona first-team setup is still some way away for the 20-year-old, especially with Inigo Martinez set to join this summer.

As things stand, Riad would be behind Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Eric Garcia, and Martinez in the pecking order. And continuing with Barça Atletic might not be the most ideal move for his development.

As such, SPORT is reporting that Barcelona would welcome the idea of loaning Riad out this summer amid interest from clubs in Spain and the Netherlands.

Riad has been with Barça since 2019 when he arrived from the Mallorca youth academy. Having enjoyed a steady possession through the youth ranks, he went on to make 37 appearances for the subsidiary team in 2022/23, along with four more for the Under-19s in the UEFA Youth League.

Beyond that, Riad also made his first-team debut for Barcelona in November last year coming on as a substitute against CA Osasuna. However, his immediate future might lie away from Catalonia.

As per the report, the 20-year-old has offers from Spanish second-division sides like Andorra and Sporting de Gijon. At the same time, he is also attracting interest from Dutch outfit RKC Waalwijk.

As iterated earlier, Barcelona would be open to loaning Riad out, but would do so only after extending his contract. His current deal expires next year but has an option for a twelve-month extension which the club can trigger before shipping him off on loan.