If Barca dont play him that salary could be his undoing. Other clubs may not watch to match it so he would be looking at a succession of loans.
I said happy to sign him if the money was right .I was responding specifically to this - more than just ‘unfavourable’ but writing him off basically …
So yes, it is a bit confusing why in that case you end your post that had been completely negative to that point with you saying you would be happy to sign him.
I just disagreed with your characterisation of Fati’s career ( both previously and the beginning of his loan with us) and am more optimistic that he won’t ‘fade into obscurity now’ but has a good chance still to rebuild his career.
It’s unlikely he will be going back to Barca, he has dropped too far down the pecking order to get his place back in the no10 position - they can’t afford to continue to pay his salary if he isn’t playing which is why he is on loan. He’s still on the same wage structure he was prior to getting injured - that is why it’s high. However, Barca will either sell him in the summer for less than his previous pre- injury value ( eg £30-45m) in which case a renegotiated salary will be made with the new club) or he will have a newly negotiated loan deal. Based on his performance this season, that is not likely to be one where the loan Club continues to pay 80-90% of his wages.
As I said, we are not likely to sign him based on your assessment if as you suggest, that he is bound for ‘some random league’ and likely to ‘fade into obscurity’ - even if the price is ‘right’ - the player has to be too.
If salary could be agreed how much would you pay for him?
He could work as a centre forward but probably not with his back to goal, he hasn’t mastered using his body against defenders yet.
So what he was doing for Barca is what Mitoma did for us last year. Essentially either beat his man and cut inside to shoot/interplay, or go round the outside of a defender and cut the ball back. Unfortunately, like you say, since his meniscus injury he hasn’t shown he can do that particularly often anymore which isn’t ideal if he’s being used out wide.It may well be Fati is a different player post-meniscus injury- his dribbling stats are lower as are his expected dribbles and expected assists but his xG and actual goals and assists are higher suggesting he’s becoming more of a finisher than a Mitoma-type dribbler. At Barca, he would cut inside from the wing, take on defenders and fire at goal with powerful precision ( rather like Messi in fact) but I always thought RDZ likes that aspect from his wingers - he often likes to overload the central attacking areas too. Buonanotte always drifted inside when he played in a no7 position too ( I think early last year I posted a heat map to show that he did that very frequently to support my view he was no10 playing in a No7 position). Conversely, RDZ use to complain March didn’t use to do it enough when he first arrived.
Where he fits with us is a headache for RDZ not for me- but unless we have him as a permanent member of the squad, he won’t be replacing anyone. Even if we did offer to buy him at the end of the loan period, it would be with a view to deepening the squad - by definition, that involves more rotational play from everyone especially if we qualify for Europe again.
To be honest, I don’t think he was signed on loan to be tied to any position, the priority was just getting him more play time than he was getting at Barca last season so he could continue to get over his injuries and gain back some lost confidence but he can play a more central role or continue provide cover on the wing imo - RDZ changes it up during matches anyway depending on the course of the game and who the opposition are. If you note Facu was moved out wide on Thursday at home to Roma because we wanted to stretch their defenders more and thin out that central area.
We were both excited by his signing.Let’s just agree to disagree - we clearly have a different view of this young player
I know, I didn’t suggest you did
. He had been playing for Barca since his knee injury in 2020 and played at that level before he had a hamstring injury with us after the Europa group. So we did sign him on the basis of his skill set post knee injury at Barca which wasn’t enough to get him regular minutes at Barca and he wasn’t at Mitoma’s level either last season at Barca - he was still in recovery. The idea was that he would improve with us as the season went on with regular games. The hamstring has put paid to that so far but at least he’s back from that.
I disagree that he ever did play at that level before the hamstring injury. He was improving yes, but not March or Mitoma levels as a wide player.I know, I didn’t suggest you did
It remains a question of how his game needs to be adjusted (such as position preference) to accommodate any lingering injury weaknesses, including any chronic pain and risk of further injury. I ripped my ACLs almost in half about 20 years ago by twisting and falling on my knee and although I recovered, I was left with chronic pain and cartilage problems - I had the same type of accident on the same knee years later, tearing even more ACLs and chipping the cartilage - I didn’t have the benefit of sports physios, private surgeons and professional trainers so it had a permanent impact - both on my swimming, kneeling, cycling, distance walking and running - including daily chronic pain and now arthritis in it. These injuries even for top athletes can take several seasons to come back from - that’s without the failed surgeries and subsequent related hamstring injuries that Fati has had.
As for being ‘disappointed’, I do remember a few of us saying at they time when everyone was so exited to get him on loan, not to expect the 2019 Ansu Fati but one who was very much still coming back from major injury and no where near the level of a £90-120 million player he would have been by now if injury hadn’t stalled his career progression.
You misunderstood my post - sorry perhaps I wasn’t clear - I said after his knee injury at Barca, he continued playing for Barca last season but was not at the level as Mitoma - it was at that 2022/3 level that we got him - well below where he was at in 2019/20 and yes, not at Mitoma’s level (or March) when he arrived to us on loan but it was his potential for later in the season once he had rehabbed that interested us.
He's a brilliant player, but clearly not right at the moment. There is no way we could afford to bring him in and no way he would take such a huge cut in wages to play for us.
Would you be saying that if he was a 'normal' 21 year old, do you think? He's scored a few decent goals for us and was starting to look very at home at this level before he got injured. If he had come through our academy I think we'd all be very excited about him. It's his history that makes him feel like a bit of a flop- he's a year younger than Adingra, for example.
I tend to agree. It's understandably swayed by a suggested £7m loan fee and £125k per week wages though. I doubt Adingra is on those kind of numbers...
Not fair imho think he is putting in effort and trying. He seems focused and motivated. Just not working out.
