Nike Reportedly Pressures FC Barcelona To Sell Ansu Fati, Strip Youngster Of ‘10’ Shirt And Sign Lionel Messi

American sportswear giant Nike is pressuring FC Barcelona to sell Ansu Fati and give his ’10’ shirt to a superstar such as Lionel Messi, according to a report from El Nacional.

Fati broke through to the Barca first team in 2019 as a La Masia prodigy who smashed a number of youngest goalscorer and appearance maker records for the club and in competitions such as the Champions League.

The Guinea-born sensation formed a strong partnership with his captain at the time in Messi, but their relationship became frayed when Fati decided to ditch his brother Rodrigo as his representative and flee to super agent Jorge Mendes, the same Catalan newspaper reported.

When Messi left for Paris Saint Germain as a free agent in 2021, Fati was awarded a bumper new contract with a €1 billion ($1.01 billion) release clause plus the Argentine’s iconic number ’10’ shirt.

Just two years on, Fati hasn’t evolved into the next generation superstar as expected of him due to a number of injuries and reduced playing time under Xavi Hernandez, and the paper reports on Thursday that Nike is now applying pressure for the number ’10’ to change hands “in order to generate more income and profit”.

Nike believes that “the best” Barca can do is “sell Ansu”, and “give the ’10’ to another crack” that can have much more of a media and marketing impact. There is of course nobody better than Messi to step in, with the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner once again up for grabs on June 30 when his Paris Saint Germain contract expires.

Also on Thursday, transfer market expert Gerard Romero reported that Barca are close to receiving the green light on signing Messi after presenting a viability plan that shows how they can make the deal happen and also shed €200 million ($218 billion) from the wage bill.

Barca have proposed making two big player sales according to Romero, and one of these could be Fati to the Premier League with Mendes overseeing the operation as a shock star defender such as Jules Kounde or Andreas Christensen is possibly moved on.