Newcastle United and Aston Villa closely followed Abde Ezzalzouli live in action for Real Betis last season.
The Morocco international starred for the La Liga side, scoring 15 goals and contributing 13 assists.
Two months ago, Sport Witness covered claims from Spain of Newcastle United’s interest, while Aston Villa made an approach for the winger. Since then, there have been multiple claims of the Magpies wanting to sign him.
An injury forced Abde to miss the World Cup, and the Andalusian club could sell him this summer. Two weeks ago, president Ángel Haro insisted he’s not untouchable even if Real Betis want to retain him.
He said: “He’s showing significant maturity. He started working from day one and could be ready by the second week. We’re very happy with Abde and we’d like to keep him but saying that a player is untouchable doesn’t make sense.”
Newcastle United and Aston Villa in picture
Monday’s edition of Diario de Sevilla mentions the Premier League duo’s interest when discussing Abde Ezzalzouli.
Manuel Pellegrini is expecting him to return [from an injury] to the squad this week. He’s facing an important summer as Newcastle United and Aston Villa circle around him.
The two English clubs have closely monitored the Moroccan, who could change clubs in this window.
Aston Villa are close to completing Morgan Rogers’ sale to Chelsea for £117m [€137.5m]. This big sale will leave a hole in the Villans’ attack and also provide significant funds to find Rogers’ replacement.
The newspaper believes Unai Emery’s side could focus on Abde, and Real Betis are pointing to his €60m clause.
Magpies and Villans target learning English
Over the past few months, the former Barcelona man has dedicated time to learn English. He understands the importance of learning this language.
“I think English is a universal language, and I believe it’s important to know how to speak English because almost everyone uses it to communicate,” he said.
“No matter where you’re from, you need to learn English.”
This could also please the Villans and Eddie Howe’s side. His preference among the two isn’t clear yet.
Aston Villa can offer him Champions League football next season while Newcastle United have missed out on Europe.
🇦🇷 Argentine newspaper Clarin: ‘As never before, the Argentine team displayed, both on and off the field, a range of values that are rare these days. From the pitch and beyond, they gave several lessons and showed the face of a country that we would like to see away from the… pic.twitter.com/3heYTAJtAB
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) July 20, 2026
