Barcelona President Joan Laporta is an expert politician, but if you were to read between the lines of his recent statements, it does attract attention that he would be so vague on the future of Ansu Fati. The 20-year-old forward has struggled to work his way back into Xavi Hernandez’s plans this season, and with Barcelona in need of sales, his name has been highlighted as one they can afford to lose.
Laporta was willing to speak on the future of Lionel Messi in the same interview on Monday morning, with TV3, that was covered by MD. When it came to Fati, Laporta spoke in generalisations rather than giving any firm statements.
“Now he is coming on more, now he has recovered, he is coming on much more, and Xavi in the last game played almost the entire game. He is a man we count on and it is the technical management that will have to decide what happens with Ansu next season, he is a Barca player, we love him and he is a player of high quality and an integrated person, I know he wants to succeed in the Barca, we’ll see how it goes.”
It has also been reported that this week will see Xavi speak to Ansu about his future, and likely tell him that he must seek pastures new.
Laporta’s statements remind of last summer – Barcelona were non-committal on the future of Frenkie de Jong for some time, saying they would like to keep him, but couldn’t be sure. Here Laporta passes responsibility onto what at this point is a nameless sporting deprtment.