Barcelona stand to gain from potential sale of former attacker amid Saudi links | OneFootball

There was much hype surrounding Abde Ezzalzouli’s move to Real Betis last summer. After an excellent loan spell at Osasuna, many expected the Moroccan to make a huge breakthrough in La Liga this past season.

However, Abde endured a rather difficult campaign, scoring just one goal in 28 league matches. His struggles have now led to speculation over his future at Real Betis.

Barcelona monitoring Abde’s future

According to Estadio Deportivo (h/t Mundo Deportivo), Barcelona are closely monitoring the future of Abde Ezzalzouli this summer.

The report points out that the forward might be tempted to move to Saudi Arabia, especially considering the fact that Ramon Planes is now the sporting director of Al Ittihad.

Planes was the one who signed Abde for Barcelona during his time in Catalonia. Later, as part of the Real Betis setup, he signed the forward for a fee of just €7.5 million.

Abde has endured a difficult season at Real Betis (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Seeing that Manuel Pellegrini has barely shown any trust in him this past season, Abde could be tempted to make the move to Saudi Arabia, in order to reunite with Planes.

Barcelona stand to gain

There is a possibility that Abde might move to Saudi Arabia this summer. But where does Barcelona come into the fray.

Well, the Catalans had retained 50% of the player’s transfer rights when they sold Abde to Real Betis last summer.

That means Barça are entitled to half the transfer amount of Abde’s potential sale value, should he leave Real Betis.

While Abde’s sale value is not expected to go beyond the €20 million, Barcelona will welcome any revenue as the club are neck deep in economic trouble.