Updated: Mar 22
After only playing 4 games for Barcelona this year, and a disappointing stint at Brighton, is it time for Asu Fati to open up a new chapter in his career, and aim to find his ability again?
Hundreds of players over the world tipped to be the ‘next big thing’ fail due to a number of reasons, and never reach their potential, but one name in particular once coated with promise and excitement has failed more than any, Barcelona’s Ansu Fati. Barcelona arguably produce some of the greatest youth players in Europe through their La Masia youth setup, but only a handful live up to the hype and expectation of Barcelona standards, one guarantee in early 2019 was the deemed ‘next Messi’, winger Ansu Fati. Fati amongst other La Masia graduates in 2020 such as Ronald Araujo and Pedri, were big parts of the team during 2019 and 2020, with high expectations for each being higher than ever. Fati quickly burst onto the scene becoming Barca’s youngest ever goa lscorer at 16 years old, and La Liga’s third youngest goal scorer in history, fulfilling expectations from early on. Later on, Fati once again cemented himself in history becoming the Champions League’s youngest ever goal scorer just after turning 17. Not long into his career with Barca, Fati won the La Liga player of the month award in September 2020, being the brightest spark in recent history for Barca, being named the best prospect since Lionel Messi until it all changed in November 2020. Fati suffered a knee injury in a game against Real Betis resulting in a torn meniscus, leaving the young starlet out for 9 months, not knowing it would change his career completely. It seems the hype, pressure and expectation was not an issue for Fati, and was on his way to the very top, but seen in young stars for the last decade, a horrific injury would rapidly alter the direction of his career.
After a poor run of form in his return to Barcelona, Brighton was the next chapter for Fati on a one year loan through the 2023/24 season but did not pan out at all and once again did not live up to the hype. But with this unsuccessful stint, and out of favour under Flick's new Barca, it's now the time for a clean slate in Fati’s career, and a new opportunity to find his previous form. With interest from a number of european clubs, one being La Liga competitors Sevilla. Staying in Spain would be the perfect opportunity for the 22 year old to work his way back into first team football, and prove everyone wrong, and that his ability has not faded. Many rumours circulated during the summer transfer window around Marseille’s interest in the young winger, with De Zerbi potentially seeing some promise in Fati during his time at Brighton. Marseille would act as another great fit for Fati as De Zerbi knows the youngster, and knows his potential. The final destination who targeted Fati in the summer and could potentially be back in the race come January, are struggling Wolves, who looked to bring Fati back to the Premier League as they searched for a replacement for Chelsea's Pedro Neto. Wolves could be a blessing in disguise for a struggling player like Fati, with the gaping hole Neto left needing to be filled, could be the perfect challenge for Fati as he aims to regain form. Had Fati join Wolves, being part of the improvement in the second half of the season would be massive for the winger, with eyes back on him as he could potentially showcase his ability in a struggling team. It's no doubt Fati needs to leave Barca in order to reach his true level, but the question really is Where? I believe anywhere in need of a winger would benefit massively from bringing in the youngster with his previous form only being a shadow of what he is really capable of, resulting in a low risk, potentially very high reward investment.
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