FC Barcelona have announced an outgoing player transfer.
FC Barcelona have announced the outgoing transfer of a fallen star player with a €1 billion ($1.08 billion) release clause.
As confirmed by a statement released on Friday afternoon, Ansu Fati has joined Brighton & Hove Albion on a loan deal without a purchase option for the duration of the recently=started European club season.
Fati previously vowed to fight for his place in Xavi Hernandez’s first XI against the advice of his father Bori Fati and agent Jorge Mendes who wanted him to move on.
This week, however, the 20-year-old had a change of heart and started to entertain the prospect of leaving the club he joined from the Sevilla academy aged 10.
Bori Fati reportedly tried to push his son towards the Andalusians, as other options included the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund.
Late on Wednesday evening, however, sources such as Fabrizio Romano and Mundo Deportivo reported that Brighton had emerged as a frontrunner in the race to land the La Masia graduate.
The chance to work with their manager Roberto De Zerbi was cited as a motivating factor for Fati joining the Premier
On Thursday at around 13.00 local time, Fati took a flight from Seville to the UK as reported by COPE so that he could sign a one-year loan deal that will keep him at the Falmer Stadium for the duration of the 2023/2024 season.
Nobody could have foreseen that a player who in 2021 was given Lionel Messi’s number 10 shirt and signed a lengthy contract extension with a €1 billion ($1.08 billion) release clause would be shipped out a couple of years down the line.
After emerging as a prodigious 16-year-old who smashed a number of club, national team and competition youngest appearance maker and goalscorer records, however, Fati has been plagued by injuries which have halted his progress.
Some 10 months from now, it is hoped the Spain international will return from the south of England a better player who has managed to stay off the operating table while having picked up invaluable experience in a top league.
With Fati now gone, Barca should be able to sign another Mendes client in Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix also on loan.
According to Romano, Brighton will pay 80% of Fati’s salary which helps the Catalans navigate Financial Fair Play limits.