Barca teen in demand ahead of Under-17 World Cup
Ansu Fati
U
ntil a few weeks
ago, not many
people in Spain
had heard of Ansu
Fati, the 16-year-
old winger from
Guinea-Bissau who
has enjoyed an extraordinary rise since
making his Barcelona debut in August.
In September, aged 16 years and 321
days, he became the youngest player
to appear for Barca in the Champions
League. He had made his first-team
debut the previous month, coming off
the bench against Real Betis, and a weekHeadliners
later he scored his first goal, against
Osasuna, again as a substitute.
He made his first senior start against
Valencia, scoring a second-minute goal
and also providing an assist, and then
played an hour in a goalless draw at
Borussia Dortmund.
“There’s going to be a lot of hype
with Ansu – a lot,” said Barcelona coach
Ernesto Valverde after the Valencia
game. “What we have to do is try to keep
it down. Our job is to protect the player.
“But there’s no denying Ansu is a
player who has something special. He
seems much more mature than hisage. We saw things [against Valencia] that
we see in training.
“It’s not easy to be a Barcelona player,
especially for a player as young as Ansu.
It’s not normal to score with your first
touch and to assist with your second. This
performance was a bit exaggerated in
that sense.
“Things will even themselves out. We
want him to get to know the league and
to see how complicated it is [playing for
Barcelona]. The kid is still developing.”
Barcelona’s plan had been for the
youngster to return to the B side after
gaining a taste of first-team football. ButFirst of many...
celebrating his goal
against Valencia with
Antoine Griezmann