Abdessamad Ezzalzouli’s childhood (Ez Abde, for friends) was not easy. Born in 2001 in the Moroccan town of Beni Melal, he left his country with his family – he is the youngest of three brothers – when he was seven years old to move to Elche, in the Carrús district, one of the most humble of the capital of the Baix Vinalopó. He would soon start playing football, although he would not attract the attention of Hercules until the age of 17, a club that signed him while Abde played in the Second Regional. He had to stay in the junior, but Hercules made him move quickly to the branch. And in 2019 he would debut with the first team, where he would not leave anyone indifferent. That is why Rico Pérez was in a hurry to renew it with a two-million termination clause.
The eye of Ramon Planes
This is where Barça enters the scene. And more specifically, Ramon Planes. The former technical secretary, who had previously worked in Elche, had been alerted by a friend of his to the arrival of Ez Abde when he had just packed his bags at Hercules. Planes decided to make several trips to see him play, and he also met in person, at a lunch in Valencia, where he fell in love with her for good. “We weren’t the only ones who wanted to sign him. Madrid, Betis and Levante were also behind him, but we made sure he only wanted to come to Barça”, they point out from the Camp Nou, where they point out that , beyond his quality as a player, were “impressed” by his “character and personality.”
However, signing was not easy. But not so much because Hercules refused to negotiate, but because of the doubts it raised at the top of Barça. “It must be understood that it is not easy, in the current situation, during a pandemic, and with all the problems that have occurred with the fair play “a bet like this for a 2nd B player”, they say from the sports area. The signing was paralyzed until the last minute, and it was unblocked, in part, because Barça ended up selling Ilaix Moriba in Leipzig In a time of economic hardship, two million is much more than a fortune.
At the club they recognize that the merit of the signing is of Ramon Planes, who came to assume all the responsibility if the bet by Ez Abde did not work. In fact, it was thanks to a final conversation with President Joan Laporta that the signing stalled. Laporta trusted Planes, and the latter also received the approval of the two main executives, CEO Ferran Reverter and the head of the football area, Mateu Alemany. The contract they put on the table was for three seasons plus two optional ones, and a 200 million clause.
Protagonist for Xavi
Ez Abde traveled to Barcelona and made his debut with the B five days later playing the last half hour of the match against Nàstic. But he had to wait to have a place in Barça’s first team. He did not enter into any convocation with Koeman. Instead, he made his debut with Sergi Barjuan as interim coach, playing the last 10 minutes of matches against Alabès and Celta. Already with Xavi, he would play the whole second part of the derby and would be a starter in Villarreal. He only missed the duel against Champions League Benfica because he was not yet registered in Europe.
He is a fast and slippery end, which does not stand out for the goal but for the speed and the dirbling. And it is that, without going further, with the 131 minutes he has played in Primera he has already made 12 cuts, one of the most in the competition. The two million seem, at the moment, quite well invested.
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