FC Barcelona First Team Star Will Renew Then Leave Club

An FC Barcelona first team star will renew his contract and then leave the club according to Catalan radio programme Què t’hi jugues, which cited anonymous sources.

Ansu Fati was the Lamine Yamal of the late 2010s, and as a 16-year-old smashed a number of top goalscoring and appearance maker records for club and country.

In 2021, he was handed Lionel Messi’s number 10 shirt when the Argentine left on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, such was his status as the widely-considered future of the Blaugrana.

Cruel injuries then halted the former Spain international’s progress, however, and he had to leave his boyhood club for Brighton on loan in 2023/2024 in search of more minutes.

On his return to Barca last summer, he initially impressed then-new head coach Hansi Flick but picked up an ankle knock which once more halted his trajectory.

Ansu then spent the rest of a treble-winning campaign being used sporadically, and he’s once more being linked with a move away from FC Barcelona to Monaco.

Reports on that topic first started circulating in late May but appeared to have cooled off. This week, however, outlets such as Què t’hi jugues report that the wheels are once more in motion with Ansu on the brink of joining Paul Pogba in Monaco.

The Catalan-language radio programme explained that Ansu will join the Ligue 1 outfit on loan with a purchase option of $12.8 million (€11 million) while Barca would have a buyback clause themselves of $32.5 million (€28 million) should Ansu show signs of his old self in France.

To avoid him running it down and joining another club on a free the season after next, though, Barca will reportedly seek to extend the La Masia product’s contract until June 30, 2028 whereas it is currently set to expire 12 months before said date.

After presumably passing a medical at Monaco on June 28th, Fati should join up with his new team on July 1 for the start of its preseason preparations.

Ansu Fati has no clear path to starting at FC Barcelona

With FC Barcelona pursuing Nico Williams and reportedly agreeing terms with the Euro 2024 champion, moving on is probably the best outcome for Ansu given he has never appeared to be in Flick’s primary plans.