London, Jun 14 (AP) Crystal Palace signed 20-year-old Chadi Riad to a five-year contract on Friday following the Morocco defender's impressive season with Real Betis.

The centre-back made 30 appearances last season for the Seville club, on loan from Barcelona. He is the Premier League club's first summer arrival.

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“The club has high-level players who are young and I have come here to follow their same trajectory, to grow as they have grown,” Riad, who turns 21 on Monday, said in the team's announcement.

Born in Spain, Riad made his Morocco debut in January and scored his first international goal against the Republic of Congo this week.

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The signing protects Palace in case centre-back Marc Guehi leaves for a bigger club. Guehi is currently in the England squad at the European Championship.

Financial details of the transfer were not disclosed. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)