Ansu Fati is the most talented forward to come out of La Masia in well over a decade. The 17 year old has already made a 24 appearances for Barcelona this season, and scored a significant 5 goals in the process.
The Catalan media are reporting that Barca recently rejected a €100 million offer for Fati. Even though the name of the club in question has not been confirmed, the Catalan media reports that this interest could have come from Manchester United.
It is clear why Ansu Fati would attract the attention of major European clubs. For several seasons now, we have spoken in our The Barcelona Podcast about how the teenager improved year on year since joining the Catalans at only 10 years of age.
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Fati regularly lead his La Masia youth teams by not only scoring and assisting prolifically, but also by becoming the most influential player on the pitch on a weekly basis.
Fati’s impact saw him catapulted into the first team earlier this season, becoming Barcelona’s youngest goalscorer ever the second-youngest player to debut for the club – only 18 days older than Vicenç Martínez in 1941.
Fati’s impact in Barca’s first team fizzled as the season unfolded. This was mainly due to senior players either returning from injury or finally reaching the expected level of sharpness that is expected given their hefty contracts and experience.
Despite that, and as we discussed in our The Barcelona Podcast much more specifically, the arrival of Ansu Fati is perhaps the most positive news story coming out of the Camp Nou this season.
There’s no two ways about it: An offer of €100M for a 17 year old youngster would be impossible to reject for most clubs around the world. To be honest, and given the club’s current financial position, such amount is also tempting for Barcelona right now – especially as they continue to find ways to finance the signing of Lautaro Martinez and / or Neymar.
Having said that, Barca would be right to ignore any attempt to lure Ansu Fati away form the Camp Nou. Still only a teenager, selling the forward with the highest ceiling at La Masia without giving him a proper chance to continuosuly show his worth at first team level would send a very dangerous message to the many youngsters who may follow his footsteps in the future.
The best Barca teams in history have been built around La Masia graduates, and this should absolutely not change if future success is to be achieved.
Barcelona legends such as Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta or Xavi Hernandez all had plenty of opportunities to leave Barca and earn much higher wages elsewhere, but they didn’t. The rest, as they say, is history – Barca history.
Of course, not every youngster coming out of the academy ends up becoming a Barca legend, but the principle of giving them enough chances to prove this should not ever be negotiable.
Here’s hoping that Ansu Fati remains a Barca player and that he is trusted at first team level so that Cules around the world can see the teenager grown into one of our club’s leaders in years to come.
