This week, the Spanish press revealed that Roberto De Zerbi intended to keep Ansu Fati on Brighton’s loan for a another season. It seems quite improbable that the Italian will not receive what he wants next season, according to new sources out of Barcelona.
According to David Bernabeu Reverter of Diario SPORT, Barcelona has a list of players who they hope to offload this summer. Among the names on this list is Ansu Fati.
The sale [of Fati] has been decided, they tell me,” Bernabeu Reverter disclosed on Monday. Bernabeu Reverter reports that Barcelona will sell Clément Lenglet, Eric García, Raphinha, and one or both of Andreas Christensen and Jules Koundé this summer.
“Barcelona want to raise €200 million in sales this summer,” stated Bernabeu Reverter. Barcelona will use these monies to sign players like Bryan Zaragoza on loan from Bayern Munich and Amadou Onana of Everton, all without going against the La Liga FFP rules.
Brighton’s hopes of keeping Fati at the team for an additional season are not entirely dashed by Barcelona’s fire sale. However, it does make things much more challenging.
According to reports, Fati makes a substantial amount of £160,000 a week at Brighton, making him the team’s highest paid player. The 21-year-old would need to accept a hefty pay decrease in order to continue playing for Brighton in the Premier League. The Seagulls may have trouble paying his transfer fee as well.
Nobody knows how much Barcelona is willing to pay for Fati. Whatever the cost, Brighton is currently better off without him. This season, Fati has only netted four goals for Brighton. Additionally, he has lost a substantial amount of time due to injury.
Although many Brighton supporters believe that Fati is a sleeping giant who is only waiting to be awakened, Roberto De Zerbi believes otherwise.
It would have been hard for De Zerbi to convince the team and the supporters to bring Fati back on loan. It will be tough to persuade them to invest a lot of money on Fati during the transfer season.
