I generally consider myself pretty clued up when it comes to potential break through players and star youngsters in football, but I genuinely had never heard of Ansu Fati until a couple of months ago.
It looks like an incredible breakthrough season is about to take another twist. Initially he broke into the Barca first team and scored two goals in his first three La Liga games.
He’s still only 16, so The Guardian reported recently that Spain had pulled some strings to hurry the process of getting him a Spanish passport. Once it was granted he was expected to travel with the Spanish U17 team to the U17 World Cup next month.
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Things already took a turn last week when Marca reported he was now being considered for a call up to the U21 squad and might not play a part in the U17 World Cup. that would ensure he didn’t miss any first team games for Barcelona.
Things have now taken an even more incredible turn as it appears he’s now being considered for a call up to the full senior squad:
SER radio say Ansu Fati is being considered for a call up to the SENIOR Spain squad by coach Robert Moreno https://t.co/qCCzfLsZEA
— The Spanish Football Podcast (@tsf_podcast) September 29, 2019
It’s very difficult not to take the cynical viewpoint on this. Of course he’s a talented player but he’s not worthy of a call up to the main squad at this point. It’s extremely important to point out he’s also eligible to play for Portugal, and would be able to change his allegiance until he makes a full competitive appearance for the senior squad.
Of course it’s completely and utterly unrelated, but Fati’s father gave an interview to AS last week where he said it was his son’s dream to play for Portugal.
It looks a pretty clear attempt to ensure the wonderkid gets “locked in” to representing Spain going forward, so it will be very interesting to see what happens next.
If he does get a full call up and plays as a late sub in a competitive fixture, that would indicate that’s exactly what Spain are trying to do.