Barcelona have been coy on their plans for the summer, but increasingly it appears that matters are crystallising in Sant Joan Despi.
Yesterday President Joan Laporta stated that the club wanted to sign a forward this summer, but that one would have to leave. With Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele almost assured their continuity, it falls to one of Raphinha, Ansu Fati, or Ferran Torres to be sold.
Laporta also backed up Ansu who has been struggling, but Catalan journalist Joan Fontes claims that the 20-year-old could well be sold this summer. Despite his injury issues, and as Fontes points out, the fact that he has played 90 minutes in just 5% of Barcelona’s games since arriving in the first team, Ansu feels he should have a bigger role for Barcelona. Xavi Hernandez does not appear to be in agreement.
And the result is that Ansu’s agent, Jorge Mendes, has offered out the mercurial striker to ‘half of Europe’. Fontes goes on to highlight that it was Mendes who chose the surgeon for his most recent knee operation, and likely had a hand in the choice of the current Head of Scouting, Paulo Araujo. A brief spell scouting for Burnley, as well as working with Deco at Adidas as a marketing manager, is an unusual route to such a desired position.
Mendes appears to hold considerable weight in the Barcelona boardroom, and a number of deals involve his agency, Gestifute, or his players.
The lack of movement on Ansu suggests that either no club has offered a sufficient fee to Barcelona for him, or simply that no club is interested. As Fati looks increasingly distant from the player he was before his injury issues, Barcelona may be facing their last chance to sell him for decent money this summer.
Xavi doesn’t like Ansu, that boy need game time. Gavi never pass Ansu .
When Ansu was playing Messi , Messi understood Ansu and his role.