Ansu Fati did not run to celebrate the Spanish Super Cup when Gil Manzano whistled the end of the game. He walked across the grass until he reached his companions. That day he would have liked to be important, as he was in the past, and he was touched. He had not even been called up: he traveled to Jeddah, but was not included either for the semi-final – where Toni Fernández, a reserve team player, passed him by – or for the classic. Three days later, in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey against Betis, there was still no sign of Ansu Fati (22 years old, Guinea-Bissau) in the squad. The young promise was diluted and the ’10’ was no longer seen on the field. The alarms start to go off.
Above all, after Hansi Flick’s statements at the press conference this past Tuesday, in which he was more forceful than usual and came out of his most correct role: “I told him when he arrived that he is ready to be professional and show great performance. He got injured, and after that he didn’t show us his 100%. And it’s a shame for him and for us. “He didn’t give it his all.” Those around him are aware that the injuries have hampered him, and that he has not had continuity. Fati respects, yes, his coach’s decisions. “He wants to come back. To be important again,” explain those who know him. And although they appeal to his professionalism and mentality, Ansu is going through a difficult time. He went from exciting Barcelona fans to losing electricity on the pitch. “He has gone from being the star to the youth player who has to earn a place,” they say from his surroundings.
This Wednesday, against Betis, in a match in which Barcelona won comfortably, Fati could have had minutes. But he watched the match from the stands. “As a whole the team is in shape, we have fewer injured players. I decide based on training. It hasn’t been easy for Ansu. The preseason started very well, but he was injured and injured again. He has to train and show us that he is improving,” Flick said then. Two messages in a row from a coach who was confident, like the club at the beginning of the season, in recovering Ansu’s best level. A coach, too, who has given several opportunities to questioned players such as Frenkie de Jong.
The situation contrasts with that at the beginning of the season. “It has really good quality. I see him very well, different from when I had been with him in Brighton. But I think now he needs some time,” said Flick, who had spoken with Ansu, and the player had accepted his role. But plantar fasciitis forced him to forget about the American tour and the first games. And then, another muscle injury to the biceps femoris. That day they assured from the Ciudad Deportiva that he had done a good workout. Between both absences, he spent 84 days injured and missed 11 games. But confidence seems to have vanished: this season there have only been eight games, accumulating a total of 186 minutes. In only one of them did he start, against Sevilla, and he was not even a starter in the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey against Barbastro, where he played for half an hour and tried to reconcile himself with the goal, although with little confidence in the finish.
A consequence, perhaps, of the possible short hamstring syndrome that some doctors say he could suffer from; a problem that generates more rigidity in that muscle and would cause you to not be able to do prolonged efforts or continuous races. Three years ago Fati decided not to have surgery on his femoral biceps, opting for rehabilitation despite the club’s insistence and conditioned by the suffering of his numerous knee operations. A generally worrying situation for the young striker, who sees his market value also decrease. According to the Transfermarkt website, Fati has plummeted from the 80 million euros he was around in October 2020 to 10 million at the end of last December.
However, his salary cost continues to have a great weight within the squad. At the moment, he has a contract until 2027 and the winter market ends on February 3. There is still time to decide his continuity or a possible six-month loan with the bad memory of his Erasmus at Brighton. García Pimienta, coach of Sevilla, wants to have him, but the relations between both clubs are not the best and the history of injuries and the high value of his chip are a drawback. At the moment, outside of Flick’s plans, there is still no trace of Ansu Fati.