He is considered one of the best young footballers in the world. He is the brightest talent of famous Barcelona’s La Masia. He is seen as Lionel Messi’s successor. He wears the number 10 at Camp Nou. And yet, he chose the Catalonians just because their arch rivals Real Madrid didn’t have a residence to house its young players! We are talking about Ansu Fati, a Guinea Bissau talent who moved to Spain in his early years and is now playing for the Spanish national team. Ansu Fati: “When I was very little, I could have signed for Madrid. At the time, they didn’t have a place for young kids to stay and study, unlike La Masia. That is why I signed for Barça.” pic.twitter.com/GNslJyNnYc— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) December 22, 2022 He gave a big interview to France Football in which he talked about his childhood in Guinea Bissau, signing for Barcelona, relationship with Messi and his debut for the national selection. Fati also revealed why he signed for the Catalonians instead of Real. „I participated in futsal competitions throughout Spain with Peloteros. We won a tournament in Madrid, where Atletico, Real Madrid, Getafe were. Before signing for Barca, I tried Real Madrid. At that time, the club did not have a residence to house its young players. After discussing it with my father, we decided that Barca was the best option, with La Masia, both for football and for my education” said Fati.Fati’s agent warning Barcelona about his client’s playing timeAfter joining La Masia (his brother did it first), the young boy Ansu became fascinated with the training ground and facilities and soon fell in love with „I remember seeing La Masia in the background, shortly before arriving in Barcelona. The closer we got, the more nervous I felt. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to come and after a week I didn’t want to leave! I arrived in 2012, just after the inauguration of the new Masia, when the club was at the top. The facilities were very modern. There was a games room with table tennis, billiards… Things I had never seen before. It has been an incredible experience living at La Masia and working with exceptional coaches. I participated in futsal tournaments, where you had to haggle a lot. At that time, I liked to make hats, flip-flap… But Marc Serra, my first coach at La Masia, quickly made me understand which club I had landed with and that, during matches, I had to respect my rivals, not make these types of gestures anymore” admits Fati. Ansu Fati: “I will never forget the gesture that Leo Messi had with me. I have this picture printed at my home, and I’ll never get rid of it.” pic.twitter.com/BFzrsn7UjF— Leo Messi 🔟 (@WeAreMessi) December 22, 2022 The Guinea Bissau native was introduced to the first team soon and debuted in a game against Real Betis in 2019, after which he had a wonderful memory with Messi. “After my debut match against Betis, Leo waited for us in the locker room to congratulate us on the victory. When I arrived, to my surprise, he took me in his arms! The team photographer took a photo of the two of us and then Leo uploaded it to his Instagram. With all the followers he has, of course, many people liked the image and started following me. After that, I received millions of notifications on my mobile, it was crazy. I will never forget this gesture and I will be eternally grateful. For a player of his stature to do that is something very important to me. I keep the photo precious at home, forever. I remember that Ronaldinho supported him a bit in the same way when he started. He did the same with me. This was a real source of additional motivation for me” said Fati. One-third of the worlds football wonderkids come from AfricaEven thou he now plays for Spain and has their citizenship, Barcelona’s forward remembers his early childhood in Africa. „I started playing in the street with my cousins at the age of 3. In Guinea-Bissau, children have this freedom almost from the time they can walk. I remember my mother called me when dinner was ready. We used to play barefoot. Those with a little more means had plastic sandals. We took socks that we rolled between us to make a ball! Every once in a while we managed to retrieve a rubber ball, but, when we were shooting at something sharp, it was finished“ recalls Fati. Ansu Fati becomes Barca’s first non-South American ’10’ after two decadesBut when he moved to Spain, the Red Fury lured him into their team and he debuted for the first team in 2020, and was a member of the squad in Qatar. „When Luis Enrique called me for the first time, in August 2020, I was on vacation in Portugal with my friend Marc. We left the hotel to go spend the day at the beach and I was waiting for him at the car. Suddenly, he came out waving and shouting: “Ansu, no, no, no!” At first I didn’t understand anything, but then I made the connection to a discussion we had the day before and I understood what it was about. We talk about football with Marc all the time, but the truth is that I didn’t expect to be called up at that moment. Suddenly, I had to shorten my summer vacation, but since it was to go to the national team, it was not a problem!“ said Fati.
