On Wednesday night, as Barcelona finally made their first appearance of pre-season, Abde Ezzalzouli sent Xavi a message — one that further complicates an already difficult situation for the Spanish manager.
Barca were outmatched by Arsenal, mainly on the physical side of their encounter. Mikel Arteta’s side were playing their fourth friendly, while some of Barca’s players had only just recovered from a bout of gastroenteritis that forced the club to cancel what was supposed to be the first game of their United States tour against Juventus on Sunday.
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Arsenal registered 20 shots, nine of them on target, while Barcelona had only nine (four on target). Xavi complained after the game about Arsenal’s aggression — after 40 minutes there were four bookings (three for Arsenal, one for Barca) and there were 34 fouls in the 90 minutes.
Xavi could not complain about the result, however. That Barca lost 5-3 might not be too important, but what happened on the left wing will leave him with more to think about.
Barça v Arsenal highlights 📺 pic.twitter.com/krKTaYwdVk
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 27, 2023
Abde started the match ahead of Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres, with the latter actually deployed in the centre-forward role in the second half (this in itself can be seen as a message from Xavi, in the context of uncertainty over Torres’ future at the club). In the seventh minute, Abde paid him back.
In a show of graft and craft, Abde took the ball from Martin Odegaard in his own half, a solid display of applying pressure off the ball, one of Xavi’s mantras. The 21-year-old then took off on a solo run down the left flank before coming up against William Saliba near the Arsenal box.
After one of Abde’s first appearances for Barca, in December 2021, he told local TV what Xavi had asked him to do. “He told me to take on defenders, so basically, I took on defenders,” was his reply.
Almost two years later, faced by one of the Premier League’s best performers last term, he did just the same and succeeded. Abde outran the Arsenal defender before cutting the ball back to Raphinha. After a shot from the Brazilian, Robert Lewandowski picked up the rebound and found the back of the net, going straight over to Abde to celebrate.
Barcelona haven’t had an in-form, out-and-out left-winger for a while. The two best wide players Xavi had last season were Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha. Both prefer to operate from the right and at several points Xavi struggled to fit them both in the same line-up.
Substitute Ferran Torres evades Rob Holding to score Barcelona’s third (Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)The left flank looked, a year ago, like a spot reserved for Ansu Fati and Torres, but the two players underperformed over 2022-23 and Gavi ended up operating there as a false left-winger.
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Abde was sent on loan to Osasuna last summer, partly because Barcelona trusted Torres more and had invested more money in him, but he now holds a level of confidence Torres can only envy.
Last night, the former Manchester City player did not have space in the team as a winger and ended up performing in a less-favoured role as Lewandowski’s substitute. After a fairly discrete performance, Torres found a goal in the dying minutes of the game, finishing after a good assist from Dembele.
In the mixed zone, Torres came by and spoke about his situation.
“I have a contract here and I’m going to stay,” the Spaniard said. “It’s the journalists who put tags on players or say they might be sold. But I don’t care at all. I’m going to fight for a spot with the team and let the manager decide.
“I’m the first to be self-critical. I know I wasn’t great last season but I learnt a lot. The ups and downs helped me to be stronger.”
Happy to make my debut for this club @fcbarcelona 🔵🔴 But still some work in front of us until the new season starts … ⚽ pic.twitter.com/ygJwKAxuuQ
— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) July 27, 2023
Torres’ message was crystal clear: he is not moving. Despite attempts from the club to list him as an expendable asset, the 23-year-old is doing the exact same thing his team-mate Fati did weeks ago. He has no intention to leave and will insist on staying at Barcelona if the club tries to push him out. And this has potential consequences for Abde.
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In an ideal world, the in-form Abde should be a more interesting asset for Xavi right now. However, with the club keen to explore player sales as they continue to try to bring themselves in line with La Liga’s salary rules while also targeting further reinforcement, it feels more likely that if anyone is sold it will be him.
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Abde is deemed among senior Barcelona sources as a player that could raise some interest in European clubs. Barcelona would be ready to listen to offers for him and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he is also willing to entertain a move. The terms of his contract have not changed since he joined as a Barcelona Atletic player (the club’s reserve team that mostly features youth players) in 2021.
Torres’ contract, meanwhile, is much more difficult to move. Fati is in a similar position and other sellable players, such as Clement Lenglet or Sergino Dest, have not attracted the interest Barca hoped they might. The uncomfortable truth for Xavi is: if new signings depend on exits, they are looking a little stuck.
From a footballing point of view, keeping Abde in the squad ahead of Torres could make a lot of sense. From an economic point of view, selling Abde before Torres is the most likely and reasonable option.
What will Barcelona do? If Abde keeps performing at a high level in pre-season and Xavi can’t be given the guarantee of new signings, will he let the Moroccan leave again?
This is the latest tough call Xavi has to make and this is the problem you have when there is not a single player who wants to leave your club.
(Top photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
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