A week ago Ansu Fati made an express visit to Barcelona. He ate with his people, he met his agents and also his friend, the also Blaugrana Alejandro Balde. Then he returned to Brighton, the city where he has resided since September when Barcelona loaned him to the team coached by De Zerbi without a purchase option. The objective was for the forward to develop his football in the Premier and gain confidence after growing, excelling and falling at Barça due to injuries and managing the always dangerous expectations. Ansu Fati, still very young (21 years old), has felt that pressure. And his return to Barça is, today, very unlikely.

After a season in the Premier in which he had to deal with another muscle injury, his intention is not to rest this summer and continue training. He knows that it is very difficult for him to go to the Euro Cup and he has some hope in the Olympic Games. But his priority continues to be to regain his trust and, to do so, he has been dealing with a coach who instructs NBA players for a few months.

There were a lot of hopes for him. After firing Messi in 2021, the club gave him the number 10. They saw him as the heir. At that time he was 18 years old and had already become the youngest footballer to score for Barça in the League and at the Camp Nou. He was also the youngest to score in Champions League history at 17 years and 40 days old. He was renewed until 2027. He was the second, after Pedri, to have a clause of 1,000 million.

Then injuries arrived and in two seasons he was barely able to play 25 games. It all started on November 7, 2020 when he suffered a tear in the internal meniscus of his left knee against Betis. He had to undergo surgery up to four times. He stopped short and missed almost a year of competition.

He returned in a big way against Levante on September 26, 2021. He came on in the 80th minute and scored. Ronald Koeman celebrated it a lot. But the joy was short-lived. Two months later, while Barça was finalizing Xavi’s landing on the bench with Sergi Barjuan taking interim charge of the team, the youth player broke the femoral biceps in his left leg against Celta. Two more months off.

When he reappeared against Athletic Club in San Mamés, it took him half an hour to relapse from the same injury. It was all tears of grief. Xavi hugged him. And there were summits at the Camp Nou to decide how to help him. Despite the advice of Barça’s medical services, which, with the arrival of Xavi, brought back Dr. Ricard Pruna as responsible, Fati opted for conservative treatment. He didn’t want more operating rooms.

In November the World Cup in Qatar arrived. With Luis Enrique he only played 44 minutes. 22 against Japan in the group stage and another 22 in extra time against Morocco in the round of 16. With Barça he finished the season with 10 goals in 53 games. The same as Raphinha although Fati scored them in 1,824 minutes compared to the 2,924 that the Brazilian needed. But he was not a starter.

Barça spoke with him. That 18-year-old boy who dazzled with his smile, his impudence and his poise, played with fear. And they agreed that the best thing was to give him up. Everything indicated that he would end up at Tottenham but Brighton came across him at the last minute with a De Zerbi who convinced him. “You will start and in December you will fly,” he told her.

Fati started by offering quality minutes. He scored two goals in the Premier and two more in the Europa League. He was stuck on Nov. 30 in his third straight start with a new injury. This time he didn’t cry. He began to talk to the club’s doctor with the confidence of someone who has already been through this before. He missed 13 games and returned to play in February but the train had already passed. Frustrated, he even saw how De Zerbi left him in the stands against Brenford. “He must improve physically. What he is doing is not enough. “Expectations with him are always very high,” said the coach. Always the expectations. This summer Fati will return to Barcelona. He does not rule out that he does the preseason. His is a special case because of who he is. Even so, his team, led by Jorge Mendes, will recommend that he go out on loan again to a team that is not in the League.