Barça and RFEF put pressure on Ez Abde to resign for Morocco
Morocco's coach has announced the final list of the 28 players who will play in the Africa Cup of Nations from 10 January to 6 February in Cameroon. FIFA has tried to suspend the tournament, but the coronavirus figures in Africa are not as bad as in Europe. In fact, players would be less exposed to the virus in any of the cities where the CAF is being played than in their own countries.
Abdessamad Ezzalzouli, Ez Abde, the 17-year-old player to whom Barça have entrusted their future along with Pedri, Gavi and Ansu Fati, is still present in the final squad. Vahid Halilhodzic's call has come at the worst moment of his sporting career. Although he was part of Morocco's youth teams and was called up by the U17 coach Joao Aroso, he never managed to close his cycle in the senior team. Some videos circulating on social networks show his dribbling and dribbling skills at both Hercules and Morocco, so his place in Barcelona's first team was only a matter of time.
Common front
Barcelona and the Royal Spanish Football Federation have formed a united front to get Ez Abde to leave Morocco. The result would be that Barça would not lose him for up to 10 games between Copa del Rey and La Liga and Spain would keep a letter for a future call-up in June 2022. The pressure on the player goes beyond football because the feeling of belonging to a national team like Morocco is very strong, even if it is not a world power.
FIFA regulations would be very severe if the player refuses to join the Atlas Lions and would prevent him from playing for Barça for as long as his national team remains in the Africa Cup of Nations. For the Bosnian coach there is no doubt that Ez Abde will come to the call in Rabat and he commented that "I have called him up because he is playing for a team like Barcelona. I have spoken to him twice and he is eager to play for us. They can't ban him from coming because he is eligible for selection" in reference to Barça's intention to keep him to play in important league games such as against Rayo Vallecano and Atlético de Madrid.
RFEF values
In the case of the RFEF, the moves have been more discreet because it is a body that belongs to FIFA and UEFA and it is unethical to ask a footballer to renounce his country. The principles of which Luis Rubiales boasts would be called into question if the demand were to be made official. According to journalist José Félix Díaz, the RFEF has informed Abde's entourage that he could be part of Luis Enrique's senior squad given his strong commitment to young players. They are not sure he will be called up, but they know that the player is waiting for his Spanish passport in January and that would open the doors to Spain for him.
With Ez Abde, the cases of Munir and Bojan, which led Vicente del Bosque to declare that he felt "guilty" that Munir could not play for Morocco, would not be repeated. Following the CAS ruling, a player can play for another national team in four cases: if he has not played more than three matches for the senior national team; if he has not played in World Cup or Confederations Cup matches; if three years have passed since the last call-up; or if he has not played a match at the age of 21 for the U21 team.
Any situation other than playing in the CAF and being called up for Morocco could cause a serious problem for both the player and Barcelona. The rush to acquire a player of his potential cannot lead to hasty decisions that would leave the youngster in no man's land.