When Ansu Fati – THE JEWEL OF LA MASIA – first made it to the bigger stage, he had one of the best runs any teenager could hope for. However, with the injuries and increased expectations, the youngster appears to be losing his way. Today we’ll talk about him.
Table of contents
The Teenage Sensation
It was August 2019. The new season had just begun. Barcelona’s manager at the time, Ernesto Valverde, was already missing a slew of forwards, including Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Ousmane Dembele. Therefore, Valverde decided to call 16-year-old La Masian Ansu Fati to the first team.
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Barcelona hosted Real Betis at Camp Nou on August 25th. By the 77th minute, the Andalusian side had already fallen behind 5-1. Fati made his first appearance on the larger stage at that time. He came in as a substitute for Carles Perez. He became Barcelona’s second youngest debutant the moment he high-fived Perez and stepped onto the pitch.
Six days since making his debut, he became the club’s youngest goal scorer in a game against Osasuna. In the game against Valencia, he became the club’s youngest ever starter at Camp Nou. Over the next five months, he broke numerous records, including the youngest to score in UCL history, the youngest Barca player in UCL history, the youngest to score in Camp Nou, the youngest to score and assist in a single LaLiga game,2nd youngest scorer in El Clasico history, and many more, while winning the hearts of millions of Culers around the world. He enlightened the hopes of the Catalan side by being a bright spark in a dark time.
November – Real Betis – First Half
In November, Barcelona were hosting Real Betis again. Half an hour into the game, Betis Defender Aissa Mandi made a tackle on Ansu Fati. His knee turned sharply and had to be replaced at half time. His ordeal began on that very day, against the same opposition where his journey began.
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Fati couldn’t return to the field for many months. The diagnosis was a ruptured inner meniscus in his left knee, a complicated injury with a lengthy recovery period. The forward was assigned to Dr Ramon Cugat, who previously worked with Xavi, Puyol, Guardiola, Aguero, and other high profiles. He spent ten days there recovering, doing one session per day. Fati returned to Barcelona ten days later. According to an anonymous source close to Dr Cugat, Fati had to do two sessions per day in Barcelona, as opposed to the one at Dr. Cugat’s centre.
Number 10
From Barcelona’s perspective, the summer of 2021 was tumultuous. The departure of their superstar, Lionel Messi, was devastating to them. The club was forced to select an heir to the sacred Number 10, which had previously been worn by Messi, Maradona, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Romario, Stoichkov, Requelme, and other high profiled players.
Apart from Griezmann, Depay, and Coutinho, there were no any high-profile attacking players left at Barcelona by the time. Later, Griezmann went on loan to Atletico Madrid, while Depay was still relatively fresh to the team. Meanwhile, Coutinho’s form was still in doubt after a long-term injury. As a result, the team opted to put their faith in their exciting talent, Ansu Fati, to take over the hallowed Number 10 shirt, which eventually out to be a terrible move.
Return of THE 10
Since Messi’s departure, the number 10 jersey, which used to win so many games for Barcelona, has been absent. THE 10 returned on September 26th, 2021, with a new owner. And the owner was Ansu Fati, the protagonist of our story. Koeman opted to bring on the star boy in the 80th minute. He marked his comeback in style, scoring 10 minutes later to seal a 3-0 victory over Levante.
Read the 16 month old Article – Extraordinary return of the new Barcelona No.10 – ANSU FATI
Aftermaths and Downfall
Fati played six more games after his return until retiring with right knee injury in the game against Rayo Vallecano. A month later, he suffered another injury in the game against Celta Vigo, forcing him to forgo the next two months. In January 2022, he returned in the Supercopa semifinal, scoring the equalizer against Real Madrid in just 17 minutes to force extra time. Despite being out of action for two months, it proved that he needed very little to make an impact. The feeling of liberation did not last long, as a few weeks later he relapsed in the game against Bilbao.
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He now rarely starts for Xavi’s team. He has appeared in every La Liga and UCL game this season, but has only started in seven of them. He has five goals this season, three in La Liga and two in the Copa del Rey. Criticism around him is so high, just like the way he used to get hyped 2 years back. Will he bounce back and prove the critics wrong in near future? Or is this the shattering of another footballing prodigy?
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