More than five months have passed since Ansu Fati’s last goal in the League (3-0 Villarreal). And, despite the fact that he has started six of the last twelve games, the youth squad player has not scored or signed any assists. An unprecedented situation for a player who, before being injured in November 2020 and undergoing four knee operations, had everything to succeed at Barcelona. Between operations, injuries and relapses, Ansu Fati missed 80 games.
However, the desire of the footballer who inherited the 10 from Messi has not changed. “I have told him to change scenery and he does not agree with his father,” Bori Fati declared in an interview with Cadena Cope last Tuesday. The father wants to see his son “succeed” as a footballer and, surprisingly, even pointed out Sevilla as one of the possible alternatives. Sources from the Andalusian club, where Ansu Fati began his career as a boy, point to this newspaper that they do not believe that this possibility is real.
Yesterday, the Blaugrana first team had a rest day. He will go back to work today. And from the sports city they point out that it is very possible that Xavi Hernández will hold a conversation with Ansu Fati to see how he is. The technician has not a single complaint. “He works very well in training and is committed to the team,” say the sources consulted, who do acknowledge that the footballer, who had broken all early records with Barça (the youngest to score in the League, to be starter at the Camp Nou, making his debut in the Champions League), “continues in a global recovery process” from his latest injury that includes the mental part. They also point out that Bori Fati’s words “do not help Ansu” and add that now “is the time to remain calm” because the objective is to recover the youth squad player and for him to continue wearing the Blaugrana shirt. “We have him for next year,” they add.
Getting stronger is also the goal of Ansu Fati, who before renewing with the club in 2021 ignored a multimillion-dollar offer from PSG. Fati said that he did not and in October he signed with Barcelona until 2027. By then he was already under the arm of the influential representative Jorge Mendes.
In a meeting held last week, Jordi Cruyff and Mateu Alemany, both top executives of the team, told Bori Fati that his son’s participation in matches is a decision that belongs to the coaches, but that the club is committed to he. But the short playing time of the footballer, to which is added the delicate financial situation of the club, could change the situation. Mendes’ machinery has already started, and if he manages to put an offer on the table in accordance with the club’s demands, anything is possible. Before they will also have to convince Ansu Fati, who wants to escape the noise and continue at the club.
