 |
| Riqui Puig of FC Barcelona, Abde Ezzalzouli of FC Barcelona and Alex Moreno of Real Betis battle for the ball during the La Liga Santander match between FC Barcelona and Real Betis at Camp Nou on December 4, 2021 in Barcelona, Spain. |
Barcelona will reportedly look to loan out young duo Riqui Puig and Abde Ezzalzouli in the summer transfer window to make room for new arrivals.
According to a report by Spanish publication SPORT, Riqui Puig and Abde Ezzalzouli face uncertain futures at Barcelona heading into the summer transfer window. With Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen slated to join the Blaugrana, the young duo could leave on loan to make room for the incoming pair.
Riqui Puig showed a lot of promise when he broke into the Barcelona first-team setup a few years ago. But while Quique Setien showed a desire to utilise the product of the famed La Masia academy upon his promotion to the senior squad, his stock has fallen considerably in the last two years.
Puig first became a peripheral figure under Ronald Koeman and has continued to be a bit-part player after Xavi Hernandez replaced the Dutchman. As a result, he has garnered only 380 minutes of game-time across 14 appearances in all competitions, fending for rare outings off the bench.
On the other hand, Abde Ezzalzouli has primarily featured for Barcelona B since arriving from Hercules last summer. But the 20-year-old did turn out a few times for Barcelona’s first team in the first half of the season, making quite an impression in his 12 appearances.
But following Barcelona’s January overhaul, Ez Abde is back at Barcelona B, with Ferran Torres, Adama Traore and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joining the Blaugrana. So, it does not come as a surprise that Barcelona might attempt to loan out the young attacker, with Puig also in line to make a temporary switch in the summer.
Puig has been linked with several clubs outside Spain over a permanent move, including Premier League outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers. And a temporary departure will unlikely serve the 22-year-old well, considering Franck Kessie is on the verge of completing a Bosman move to Camp Nou.
Interestingly, it is due to Kessie and Andreas Christensen’s impending transfers to Camp Nou that Puig and Abde face uncertain futures at Barcelona. And the young duo might benefit from permanent departures instead of loan moves, although it looks like the latter could be on the cards.
