Barcelona Promotes Moroccan Prodigy Chadi Riad to First Team Amid Defensive Shortage

At 19 years old, the Atlas lion cub is a jewel of La Masia who has the support of his coach, Xavi. Moreover, the Spanish coach does not skimp on praise for him. He considers Riad as a safe bet, capable of being a defender worthy of wearing the Blaugrana colors.

Riad has already been integrated into league matches as a substitute and has given full satisfaction. The young defender is ready to make up for any absence of the big names, to avoid a rout of the Catalan team.

According to the website Sport.es, Barça is banned from recruiting due to financial fair play, which is undermining coach Xavi who only has four starting defenders (Ronald Araújo, Eric García, Andreas Christensen and Jules Koundé). In case of unavailability of one of them, Xavi will have to count on the young Moroccan hope.