How Ansu Fati’s Barcelona career hangs in the balance after Brighton injury

It wasn’t long ago that Ansu Fati was considered arguably the brightest prospect in world football when he became the youngest player to ever score for Barcelona but the forward’s career could already be fizzling out after another devastating injury.

Fati was heralded as Barcelona’s best academy graduate since the Lionel Messi, drawing comparisons to the Argentine as he established himself as a regular in the senior side at the age of 16.

The forward had scored 11 La Liga goals by the age of 18 and it was considered a foregone conclusion that Fati was Messi’s heir apparent before he suffered a disastrous knee injury in 2020, which kept him out for nine months at a pivotal point in his career.

Fati never really recovered from his injury, with his explosive pace and confidence hampered by repetitive setbacks, and Barca had hoped that a loan spell at Brighton this season would allow the 21-year-old to find fitness and recapture his best form.

However, Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi confirmed this week that Fati would be missing ‘for a long time’, having picked up a hamstring injury against Nottingham Forest last weekend.

Fati was slowly finding form at Brighton but the youngster’s latest issue could be a hammerblow towards his success at Barca, with the Catalan side now running out of ways to help their prodigy get his career back on track.

What next for Ansu Fati after another painful setback?

Brighton’s loan of Fati was considered a coup in the summer, such is the pedigree of the Spain international, and he was one of the club’s highest earners due to the Premier League side covering his wages of more than €200,000 per week.

Fati had broken into De Zerbi’s line-up in recent weeks and he grabbed three goals and one assist in his last seven games across all competitions, solidifying the belief that he could fulfil his ambition of returning to Barca next summer on the back of a productive, injury-free season.

His latest setback, therefore, is a brutal twist of fate, with Fati facing more than three months on the sidelines and leaving Barca counting the cost of his injury preventing them from either having a happy reunion with the La Masia graduate or being able to cash in on him.

Instead, Fati will return to Camp Nou next summer with three years on his contract and no teams likely to give Barcelona a reprieve to their financial issues by making a big money move, with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool having previously held an interest in him.

Fati’s future appears to be limited to fighting for minutes and fitness at Barca and he may struggle to gain another opportunity to prove his worth or fulfil his sky-high potential, instead going down as another ‘what if’ in the cruel story of football.