Former Barcelona director: Ez Abde is a street footballer, and I wanted him at any price

Planes praised the Moroccan star's competitiveness

Ramon Planes, the former sporting director of Barcelona and Real Betis, has spoken about his role in signing Abde Ezzalzouli and Pedri, pointing out that the latter's deal was not understood by many inside the Catalan club at the time it was concluded.

Planes made the comments in an interview with the programme "Zona Mixta", a day before Betis host Barcelona in La Liga, a fixture that pits together the last two clubs he worked for in Spain.

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He left Spanish football in 2024 to join Saudi club Al-Ittihad. That spell is now over, and he will continue his career at another club yet to be revealed, with all indications pointing to Europe, according to the Catalan newspaper "Sport".

On Ezzalzouli, Planes said: "Abde Ezzalzouli is a player I know well, because we took a gamble on him at that time at Barcelona. He reflects my way of seeing football, and the type of player I have gambled on at all the clubs I have worked for, since I started when I was 32 years old, and a long time has passed."

Planes drove Ezzalzouli's move to Barcelona in 2021, when he held the post of the club's technical secretary.

He spotted the Moroccan at Hercules, in the Segunda Division B, and saw the model of the classic winger who thrives on dribbling and one-on-one duels. Years later he backed him again, taking him to Real Betis, where he remains a key player to this day.

"A street player"

Planes added: "Altimira, Chadi Riad... we used to see amazing potential in those players. Abde Ezzalzouli was a street player, aggressive, intense, irregular. And when I saw this player, I gambled on him for Barcelona Atletic, paying his release clause of 2 million, even though he was barely playing. He played with the first team, we loaned him to Osasuna and he was very successful, and when I signed for Betis, I wanted him at any price."

He continued: "I remember many conversations in which I told him he was coming to a very big club. He is a young man few people know, a player who is very competitive internally. Abde Ezzalzouli wants to be the best in his position. I suggested to him that he reach the level of Luis Diaz, and I used to send him clips of him."

Pedri was another he stood by, as he did with Ronald Araujo. "You cannot gamble on a player and then abandon him," Planes said. "You have to talk constantly with the player and show him trust. When you sign a player everything is lovely, but after that the difficulties begin. At that time, the board supported me over the Pedri (deal), but many did not understand it."

He added: "Paying 5 million for a player who had not played anything in the top division, with La Masia in existence, produced a lot of criticism. That culture did not exist at Barcelona, but there was absolute steadfastness on my part."

Pedri joined the Blaugrana in the summer of 2020 from Las Palmas, after the agreement was concluded in September 2019.