So, Ansu Fati is injured again.
Last week, the Barcelona winger sustained a hamstring injury during a training session that will sideline him for four weeks — just the latest blow for a player who is still only 22 years old.
Fati’s problems started in November 2019 when he tore the meniscus in his left knee in a La Liga game against Real Betis. He suffered several relapses and had to undergo surgery four times.
Since recovering from that injury in 2021, he has had nine more injuries and been sidelined for more than 300 days. He is now firmly a back-up forward at Barca after spending last season on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion. He has made one start this campaign and played 158 minutes across seven appearances.
It is a far cry from what fans envisaged when Fati broke into the Barca first team as a 16-year-old during troubled times for the club in 2019. He seemed to wear the ‘new Lionel Messi’ tag well after rising from the club’s academy, La Masia; he still wears the No 10 shirt vacated by the Argentine when he left in 2021.
Fati still wears the No 10 shirt vacated by Lionel Messi (Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Records fell for Fati when he first came through with the first team. He became Barca’s youngest goalscorer, the youngest player to start at the Camp Nou, the youngest to score and assist in a La Liga game and the youngest to score at the club’s iconic home ground.
He was Barca’s youngest player in the Champions League group stage, the youngest scorer in the competition’s history across all clubs, Spain’s youngest player since 1936, the youngest to score multiple Champions League goals and the second-youngest scorer in El Clasico history.
Many of those records are now held by his team-mate Lamine Yamal.
The 17-year-old has established himself as Barca’s undisputed star and appears to be the structural player the team will build itself around, as was once the case with Messi. Although Fati and Yamal have a good relationship, it is a cruel twist of fate that the former should now be watching the latter living the life he might have thought he would be leading.
The Athletic has previously reported in depth on Fati’s injury problems. His torn meniscus was sutured — when a stitch is made to join together the open parts of a wound — but he had to undergo another of those operations two months later.
“Unlike the classic meniscus operation, with suturing you have to go much slower with recovery,” Dr Federico Llobet, an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in knee injuries, told The Athletic in January 2023. “They rushed with Ansu’s.” Former employees at Barca who were responsible for Fati’s recovery did not respond when approached for comment at the time, nor did Fati’s family.
Since then, Fati has failed to return to his pre-injury self. Fans watch his performances with patience and hope, grateful for what he gave them at a difficult time and dreaming he might do the same again. But those hopes are diminished with each injury.
Fati is one of the few players, along with Ferran Torres, who has failed to rediscover his best form under Hansi Flick. Last season’s loan at Brighton did little for a player whose confidence looks shot.
Talking to club employees —who, like all the sources cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — you get the sense that discussing Fati’s fortunes has become almost taboo, because everyone feels bad about his situation and hopes it will change at some point. Former Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi was perhaps the person to speak most honestly in public about Fati’s situation.
Fati celebrates scoring for Brighton — but he underwhelmed during his time there (Michael Zemanek/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
“Fati is working very well, but I have different expectations for him,” he said at a press conference in April. “My opinion of him has not changed. He is one of the best talents in the world at his age, but he needs to improve his performances, improve his fitness and improve his mentality, because to play in the Premier League you have to be stronger mentally and physically. When he shows us he is ready, he can play for us.”
Fati finished with four goals and one assist for Brighton in 27 appearances, suffering a hamstring injury in November that kept him out for 10 weeks. He is not the same electric player who broke through and it is hard to differentiate between what might be struggles with confidence and physical issues.
When Fati returned from Brighton, Barcelona told him they would give him pre-season under new arrival Flick to see how he was doing. However, he did not seem as untouchable as in previous transfer windows.
Fati impressed Flick at first and was ready to show he deserved a new opportunity. Then, before Barca went on tour to the United States, a player stepped on Fati’s foot during a training session and he hurt himself.
Fati initially felt it was nothing major and continued training, but when he went to be checked by Barca’s medical staff they realised he had a foot injury. It was a blow to his hopes of leaving a mark in pre-season — other senior players were missing and he could have been handed a fresh chance. He missed the tour with the issue and any potential exit was put on hold — similar to what could happen now with Fati’s latest muscle injury and the January transfer window.
Several physiotherapists consulted by The Athletic at that time said undergoing as many operations as Fati did could cause a player to continue to feel pain over time, even when their meniscus has recovered.
People within the club who deal with Fati on a daily basis say he needs to feel supported at present, which would be a natural and understandable consequence of his recent injury history.
The form of Yamal, Lewandowski and Raphinha will make it difficult for Fati to get game time (Joan Valls/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty Images)
His future is uncertain and his chances of breaking into the first team appear slim.
Flick’s Barca side is based on meritocracy. Fati started at a disadvantage after missing the pre-season tour and he has disappointed when he has been called on. In his last appearance, he was unable to make a difference as Barca registered zero shots on goal in a 1-0 defeat by Real Sociedad.
Then there is the fact Barca have the highest-scoring attacking trio in Europe’s top five leagues — Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal have 37 goals between them.
Lewandowski is La Liga’s top scorer with 14 and, at 36, is having one of the best seasons of his career. Raphinha is flourishing after moving from the right to the left wing and Yamal has been involved in 14 goals in 16 appearances. It is hard to see where Fati or Torres fit in, even if Yamal is currently out with an ankle injury.
Five years ago, you would not have expected Fati to be relying on cameo performances to get back into the Barca team. But that is the reality for a player who looks further and further from his best.
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