Ansu Fati – The new ‘pearl’ of La Masia?

If he’ll play tonight, Ansu Fati (16 years and 297 days old) will become the 2nd youngest player in Barcelona’s history to play a League match. Vicente Martinez Alama is the youngest, back in 1941 at the age of 16 years and 280 days.

Born in October 2002, Anssumane Fati, AKA Ansu Fati, is originally from Guinea Bissau. However, a short time after his birth, his family moved to spain, when his older brother, Braima, signed for Sevilla. Few years later Ansu joined his brother in the academy of Sevilla, and not long after that both the Fati brothers signed for Barca.

Braima Fati still belongs to Barca B at the age of 21, but so far failed to make it there. Therefore, he will spend the next season on loan at Calahorra.

Ansu Fati joined La Masia in the age of 10, and always played with older players than him. In his first years he played with Take Kubo, that we now all know. In his first season in La Masia Ansu scored 56 goals.

Although he was originally a foreign player, Barca didn’t have to let him go due to the FIFA ban, like Take Kubo. Therefore, the young forward stayed and grew in La masia.

In the next seasons, Ansu Fati continued to play with older players, and kept dominating in the attack. Moreover, he grew physically and became stronger, and more powerful. However, in December 2015 his career was in jeopardy, after a tough injury. Ansu broke his right leg and was out for ten months.

Returning from the injury better than ever

After spending most of 2016 out, Ansu Fati returned to the fields. Although he returned from a tough injury, he came back better than ever. Moreover, Last season he became a starter for the u19 team, at the age of 16. He was even one of the best goalscorers of the team last season.

This summer many teams wanted Ansu, and the board worked hard until a month ago he finally renewed. Since then, he played fiendly matches for both Barca B and the Juvenil team. For both teams he was one of the best players, scoring and assisting many goals.

However, just a month after his renewal, Ansu Fati started to train with the first team. It seems like Valverde really likes him, and we can see that he preffered calling him for the match tonight against Betis. What’s more amazing is that he might play a first team match without officially debuting for Barca B.

Víctor Valdés (Juvenil A coach) posted a letter for the wonderkid: “Ansu, I wish you all the best on this special day. Think about the fact it’s just football and goals. Enjoy the Camp Nou that, if you make your debut, will carry you. Always strong and fast, Ansu.” [via @albert_roge via @barcacentre]

Will Ansu play tonight? early to say. But it says a lot about how the club rates him.

Marco