FC Barcelona Announce Surprise Sale Approaching Midnight Deadline Day

FC Barcelona have announced a surprise sale approaching midnight on deadline day in the summer transfer window.

As revealed through an e-mail to the press, the Catalans have sold 50% of the rights to winger Ez Abde to Real Betis for a fee of €7.5 million ($8.01 million).

In this fashion, Barca will also receive 50% of any future sale of the Moroccan international, who helped his country reach the World Cup semi finals at Qatar 2022.

The 2022/2023 season was one Abde spent on loan at Osasuna, and he was similarly pivotal in their unexpected run to the Copa del Rey final where they were beaten by Barca’s arch rivals Real Madrid.

In preseason, he returned to his now former parent club and went on Barca’s friendly tour of the United States.

At the start of the current campaign, Xavi Hernandez used Abde as an impact substitute to great effect and communicated that he formed part of his plans moving forward.

At a press conference ahead of Sunday’s seven-goal thriller at Villarreal, the coach said he liked Abde on a “personal level and as a professional” and was “counting on him”.

“He can bring us a lot. The player must understand that there are no starters and substitutes. Especially in midfield and attack, where there are many players,” Xavi added, however, in reference to the 21-year-old’s plight warming the bench.

This week, however, it appears that Abde – just like Ansu Fati, now on loan at Brighton – refused to accept a diminished role in Catalonia.

Furthermore, with the arrival of Joao Felix, Abde would have faced increased competition for minutes on the left flank before even considering Xavi’s four-man midfield system that also fields a false left winger.

On Friday afternoon, outlets such as MARCA and SPORT began reporting that Abde was a ‘step away’ from joining Betis and the move has now been completed near closing time on deadline day.

Some day, Abde could theoretically come back to Barca but they would need to buy the other 50% of his rights from Betis.

With interest from the Premier
PINC
League arising in recent windows, however, Betis and Barca could profit from a big sale to England in the future should the youngster continue fulfilling his potential.