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Barcelona need to be careful with Ansu Fati

By Ernesto Hernandez

BARCELONA, SPAIN - September 14: Sixteen year old Anssumane Fati #31 of Barcelona celebrates after providing the assist for his sides second goal by Frenkie de Jong #21 of Barcelona and becoming the youngest player to both score and assist in a La Liga game in the 21st century during the Barcelona V Valencia, La Liga regular season match at Estadio Camp Nou on September 14th 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - September 14: Sixteen year old Anssumane Fati #31 of Barcelona celebrates after providing the assist for his sides second goal by Frenkie de Jong #21 of Barcelona and becoming the youngest player to both score and assist in a La Liga game in the 21st century during the Barcelona V Valencia, La Liga regular season match at Estadio Camp Nou on September 14th 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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Barcelona need to have a plan in place for Ansu Fati as he continues to shine.

Ansu Fati’s Barcelona career has gone better than anyone could have ever imagined. After scoring against Osasuna and becoming one of the youngest ever to do so in club history, Ernesto Valverde rewarded his play with a start against Valencia.

Fati paid back that confidence in spades scoring early in the first-half and then providing the assist for Frenkie de Jong’s first goal. He looked lively during his time on the pitch and went off with the applause of the Camp Nou faithful.

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There’s no doubt that Fati has a lot of potential ahead of him and it’s easy to forget that he’s 16-years old. He is still developing as a player and that is why it is important that Barcelona have a plan in place both short and long-term.

With Suarez returning from an injury and Lionel Messi still out, Fati is likely to start once again when they face Borussia Dortmund. But after that is when management has to make a few decisions.

Messi is likely to be back for the Granada game and Ousmane Dembele is also close to coming back. With the return of these players, Fati is unlikely to feature as prominently as he has so far.

He will be sent back to Barça B to continue to his development. Given how he’s performed, supporters and those around Fati may not like that decision. But the club need to do what is best for him and the team.

They need to keep Fati grounded and make sure things are not coming too fast and too soon. Fans are already grasping to him as the next big thing and it’s easy for that to go to a player’s head. Fortunately, his parents seem to be doing a good job of keeping him grounded.

We’ve seen other young players and how the hype and pressure has negatively impacted them. You have the cases of Bojan Krkic and Gerard Deulofeu. The former managed to take a spot from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the latter was supposed to be the heir to Messi.

If they want to avoid a similar outcome, the Catalans need to have a clear plan for Fati and one that makes it clear the confidence they have in him. With the amount of competitions Barcelona are in, he is going to play quite a lot with the senior team going forward. Though it may not be week in, week out.

The “problem” that Barcelona are soon going to be presented with is one that every club would like to have. It has been a while since an academy product has had such an impact so soon and drawn the accolades of fans, the manager, and teammates alike.

Next. Ansu Fati imposes himself in Barcelona’s 5-2 thrashing of Valencia. dark

They have something special with Fati. Their job now is to make sure he continues to develop because if nurtured properly, Barcelona have a player in their ranks who could be their next emblematic superstar.