Barcelona: Ansu Fati's father 'annoyed,' would move son

• by Rikesh Sharma , Mar 29, 2023

On Wednesday, Ansu Fati's father Bori Fati said that he was annoyed with how Barcelona is treating his son and would prefer for the forward to move to a different club. However, he confirmed that the 20-year-old wants to stay and succeed at the Catalan giant, after coming through its youth system and becoming a fan favorite.

"It annoys me how [the club] is treating Ansu in terms of minutes, [playing for] one minute, two minutes, three minutes, that's what annoys me," Bori Fati said on Spanish radio. "I'm not going to ask for or say that he should be starting whatever happens, because all the strikers there are great, they are elite, but we are talking about Ansu Fati," he told Cadena Cope. "We're talking about a Spanish international, Barcelona's number 10, a boy who came from La Masia," he added, referring to Barca's academy.

Ansu Fati debuted for Barcelona in 2019 at just 16 years old and made a rapid impact, but a knee injury in 2020 led to a long spell on the sidelines. In 2021, he took Lionel Messi's No 10 jersey after the club's all-time leading goalscorer joined Paris Saint-Germain following his contract's expiration. This season, Fati has received little playing time under manager Xavi Hernandez, starting just nine league games despite being fit.

Bori Fati recently met with Ansu's agent, Jorge Mendes, to discuss his son's future.

"When I sat down with Jorge, he told me the first thing that Ansu said was that he doesn't want to leave Barca, he will play there. As his father, I was thinking something different, because I'm saying, 'what the heck is going on here?'"

Asked if he meant he would prefer for Ansu Fati to leave Barcelona if the situation didn't change, Bori Fati replied: "Exactly." He said he no longer attends Barcelona games because he is frustrated with the current situation and is planning to return to Seville, where the family settled in Spain after leaving Guinea-Bissau.

While he said a departure for Ansu was his preference, he was not currently open to the idea of his son signing for Real Madrid.

"Ansu would not accept it, I cannot put Ansu where he doesn't want to be," Bori Fati added.

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© Agence France-Presse