FC Barcelona Fans In Catalonia Want To Sell Ansu Fati

FC Barcelona fans in Catalonia are voting overwhelmingly for Ansu Fati to be sold by the club.

In a development that was once unthinkable, it is rumored that Fati could be moved on in the summer.

Barca have been told by La Liga president Javier Tebas that they must take €200mn ($214.5mn) off the wage bill next season, and selling Fati could raise perhaps half that amount.

The Blaugrana have been accused of leaking alleged interest from the likes of Manchester United and Bayern Munich to the press in an attempt to unsettle the 20-year-old, whose agent Jorge Mendes is said to have suitors for his client in the PremierPINC
League.

Meanwhile, the Onze sports programme on TV3 in Catalonia has run a poll showing that Barca fans have an appetite for offloading Fati.

At the time of writing, a poll asking who they would sell if it came down to a choice between the number ’10’ and Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo swings 93% to 7% in favor of putting the forward on the market.

Not everyone agrees, however, with one user writing that Araujo can be sold as Jules Kounde would replace him at center back. “There is no substitute for Ansu in full form. And for now the Premier League would pay us a lot more for Araujo,” he added.

This provoked the response: “Are we a sports club or a bank?”, and it’s a fair point.

Unlike Araujo, Fati has not recovered from injury well and is struggling for both form and minutes under Xavi in a high-performing team.

On Sunday, he didn’t even make it off the bench as Araujo dropped a world class performance away at Villarreal in a 1-0 win that helped moved Barca 11 points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table.

In a four-man midfield system which has space for only one pure winger, Fati isn’t needed as things stand with Raphinha nailing down the slot for a wideman in the absence of the injured Ousmane Dembele.

Meanwhile, however, Xavi continues to rule out any potential sale and said: “I don’t understand why this is being talked about now in our circles,” the last time he was asked about it in front of the media.

“There is no market now, so Ansu is not for sale. He is a very important player for us — for now and for the future,” Xavi insisted.