Ansu Fati

[T-Bone]

Fati and Udogie could be unreal down our left side. Son as striker and Johnson on the right.....pace and skill alll across the front line.

 

[Rosco1984]

fun fact his brother played for biggleswade united a couple of seasons ago beacuse they are owned by guillem ballague. He was shocking even at local level. But I wonder if he stayed local somewhere could help him settle if he has family closeish by already.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

These are big questions for me. What’s his output been like post injury if you don’t mind me asking?

Last season was his first full season post injury. He got 10 goals and 4 assists across 52 games but im not even sure he finished a full 90 once? (Someone should double check tho as not 100% sure on it) he would often be a sub or come off around the 70th min when starting. I think one must realise he was never going to just get fit and start tearing it up. It was always going to take him time plus one needs to factor in Barca and where they are as a club atm. I wouldn’t say he had a good season from what I saw, on the whole he showed glimpses of his old self but was largely ineffectual.

I would say tho that this is where it’s worth listening to Barca fans. Many say that towards the tail end of the season he started to look more like his old self. Even now I think there is a bit of a split with many thinking he just needs time and shouldn’t be sold. There’s still a belief by some that he’s the future of the club. I know he’s had a few sub appearances this season but i haven’t watched Barca yet so can’t say how well he’s done, no goals or assist tho.

 

[FrankSpencer]

I’m amazed he’s still only 20, it feels likes he’s been around for ages! Plenty of time still left for him.

 

[rebrab]

I think there’s definitely been a little misconception regarding injuries with him. He’s not particularly injury prone, it’s more that he had a big injury that set him back and has forced him to change his game. He’s very much still adapting to the changes the injury forced upon him. For example he doesn’t take on players as much as he used to. There is clearly a mental issue regarding his adaptation to the physical effects of his injury. The question marks more come from if he will be able fully develop into a player that utilises all his raw ability. I have seen him feature post injury and you forget he’s even on the pitch at times. He’d need a lot of work but we shouldn’t be too worried about him being injured every other week.

Great post (as always!). Thanks for the insight

 

[JamieSpursCommunityUser]

Fati and Udogie could be unreal down our left side. Son as striker and Johnson on the right.....pace and skill alll across the front line.

Oh Fati Fati
He's only got one knee
But he plays well with U-do-gie
Oh Fati Fati

 

[barry]

He has always impressed me, but as has been said post injury he doesn’t look quite as quick. The question is that a physical problem or a mental one. His stats last year are excellent for a player his age. Loan with an option to buy, Levy special, would be ideal, I can’t imagine his wages are high. I’d be all for it.

His wages are astronomical (200k plus), and I think he gets a raise every season contractually. 4th highest paid player at Barca supposedly.
Saying that we're rich, and it's a punt I like.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

So you obviously have the injury issues with Fati and the fact he is visibly slower than he used to be but if we set them aside and just look at his actual game, I just don't see how he fits with the way we are playing unless he is striker.

He is excellent at 1-2 combos in central areas, good shot on him and he's a good finisher. He does not hold the width though, he drifts inside constantly. We are 4 matches in and by now we can all see the way Ange deploys his wing forwards. They hold the width and he wants them to take people on out wide. We are already having big issues with this because Son and Deki are struggling to do that and keep cutting back inside.

Fati won't solve this problem in any way. He cuts inside every single time and looks to combine. He doesn't take people on anymore and to be honest even at his best he was never a 2 way dribbling master. He's more about silky touches, explosive movement and creativity in and around the box but I repeat he was never a player who held the width and would take his man on the outside. He is very much an inside forward, who needs a wide, overlapping fullback outside him to utilise his skillset imo.

With the way we play, if he is deployed as a left winger he and we will struggle massively and he can't play on the right either as he isn't a touchline player. Playing him on the left will basically congest all of the inside left space where Maddison and Udogie have been combining so well and we will have no width on the left. It won't solve any of the issues we are currently having with our wide players being unable to beat their man 1 on 1 and get to the byline. Fati wasn't even that good at this when he was at his best let alone now he has lot his explosiveness.

I would much rather sign Brennan Johnson and I wasn't particularly keen on that but he makes a lot more sense as he can play wider and has the pace and durability for the PL. Signing both makes no sense either as we'd have signed 2 players and yet still would have failed to bring in a single player who can actually take people on out wide in a proper 1 on 1 sense.

 

[Stevospurs18]

I think he would turn out to be a very clever addition. He would add a whole new dimension to our attacking play. Johnson and Fati coming in would give us a lot of options for the front 3. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if we managed to get both in

Have to feel that Fati would be another opportunistic signing by Levy (much like Danjuma) where the finances involved make it a "no brainer" in his eyes, without actually looking at the make-up of the squad. We have Son, Perisic and Solomon who all play off the left competing for one position. Sure why not add a 4th LW instead of focusing on priority position like CF and CB

Some people will say he can play striker, but that's not his position and Levy knows it. Can't force Ange to shoehorn him there, we'd actually be better utilising Scarlett or the new signing Veliz - who are actually strikers.

We've been down this road before, and the fans lap it up as it's a shiny new signing without considering how it affects the squad balance. Brennan Johnson makes much more sense as he plays off the right, where we only have Deki in that position and he's HG.

Levy just can't help himself when he's provided a bargain deal.

 

[Timberwolf]

Silky, talented but injury ravaged player bought for big money and wages to a significantly more physical league.

This one's going to end well

 

[wrd]

Has anybody got a link to specific details of his injury that lead to people thinking he's done? There's been a staggering amount of movement in injury rehabilitation recently that I want to understand why a 20 year old can't, at the very least, find a way to adapt.

 

[THFC_is_my_life]

His stock was about as high as you can get a couple of years ago, and by that I mean he was proper wonderkid territory. If there’s even a slim chance that he’s interested in coming to us, we should absolutely be trying to do this deal asap. I think a change of scenery would be great for him personally to get away from the pressure of Barca and recapture his best form, and at 20, if he performs well then we potentially have a LW in the same bracket as the best in the league. A risk yes, but in all an incredibly technical winger who would add quality + some much needed goals/ assists to our front 3.

People turning their nose up at him are doing him a massive disservice IMO - you don’t play 112 times for Barcelona at 20 if you’re, sorry to quote a few on here, “shit”.

(Side note - Chelsea being interested in him when they have about 500 players/ wingers (one of whom cost £90m last summer) is absurd. What is wrong with that club at the moment? Them wanting him worries me a lot.)

 

[Marty]

I dunno, this smells very Giovani dos Santos to me. Talented kid but is he now injury and pain free and has he managed to retain the spark he showed when he broke through after so much time away?

 

[FrankSpencer]

His stock was about as high as you can get a couple of years ago, and by that I mean he was proper wonderkid territory. If there’s even a slim chance that he’s interested in coming to us, we should absolutely be trying to do this deal asap. I think a change of scenery would be great for him personally to get away from the pressure of Barca and recapture his best form, and at 20, if he performs well then we potentially have a LW in the same bracket as the best in the league. A risk yes, but in all an incredibly technical winger who would add quality + some much needed goals/ assists to our front 3.

People turning their nose up at him are doing him a massive disservice IMO - you don’t play 112 times for Barcelona at 20 if you’re, sorry to quote a few on here, “shit”.

(Side note - Chelsea being interested in him when they have about 500 players/ wingers (one of whom cost £90m last summer) is absurd. What is wrong with that club at the moment? Them wanting him worries me a lot.)

Great post!

 

[GetSpurredOn]

Adding another LW/LWF doesn’t make much sense when we already have Son, Perisic, Soloman and Gil who prefer to play there. Unless the plan is some of them are just as viable on the right, and perhaps Kulu goes to No10 if Lo Celso is part of any deal.

 

[AJW]

Adding another LW/LWF doesn’t make much sense when we already have Son, Perisic, Soloman and Gil who prefer to play there. Unless the plan is some of them are just as viable on the right, and perhaps Kulu goes to No10 if Lo Celso is part of any deal.

If we go for this deal I think Gil is definitely out and wouldn’t be shocked to see Perisic leave too. Think it would be:

LW: Fati, Solomon
ST: Son, Richarlison
RW: Kulusevski, Johnson

 

[HildoSpur]

Adding another LW/LWF doesn’t make much sense when we already have Son, Perisic, Soloman and Gil who prefer to play there. Unless the plan is some of them are just as viable on the right, and perhaps Kulu goes to No10 if Lo Celso is part of any deal.

It makes total sense when you consider that within a year Perisic and Gil will likely have left the club and Son will be another year older and appears to be declining fast.

 

[wrd]

If we go for this deal I think Gil is definitely out and wouldn’t be shocked to see Perisic leave too. Think it would be:

LW: Fati, Solomon
ST: Son, Richarlison
RW: Kulusevski, Johnson

I'd hate to see Perisic go. I think he's really important for what we're trying to do.

 

[GioW]

If we go for this deal I think Gil is definitely out and wouldn’t be shocked to see Perisic leave too. Think it would be:

LW: Fati, Solomon
ST: Son, Richarlison
RW: Kulusevski, Johnson

I like the look of that but Perisic and Gil are not both getting moves in the next less than 3 days

 

[Marty]

Adding another LW/LWF doesn’t make much sense when we already have Son, Perisic, Soloman and Gil who prefer to play there. Unless the plan is some of them are just as viable on the right, and perhaps Kulu goes to No10 if Lo Celso is part of any deal.

I don't think Gil will play for us again tbh, and Perisic will almost certainly leave next summer. Those aren't reasons to not take a punt on Fati.