Ansu Fati has reportedly been offered to Manchester City by his agent Jorge Mendes, who is pressuring Barcelona to hand a bumper new deal to him.
According to a report by Spanish publication Diario SPORT, Manchester City have been offered to chance to sign Ansu Fati. However, Pep Guardiola is not interested in the move, as he does not want to sour his relationship with Barcelona, with the player himself keen on staying put at Camp Nou.
Ansu Fati is being heralded as Barcelona’s next great prospect for over a decade to come following the departure of Lionel Messi. The 18-year-old has indeed shown a lot of promise since breaking into the Blaugrana’s first-team setup in 2019, aged just 16. However, after a memorable maiden campaign at the club, he has had to struggle with a long-term knee injury, which has sidelined him for nearly a year now.
To date,Fati has made 43 appearances for Barcelona while racking up a decent enough tally of 13 goals and five assists. However, the Catalan giants are in a precarious situation over his future, as he has entered the final year of his contract, with their dire financial situation preventing them from handing him a new deal. This has prompted Jorge Mendes to offer him to Manchester City.
Manchester City appear to be weighing up the possibility of bolstering their attack after joining the race to sign Kingsley Coman. The eagerness to do so makes sense as well, seeing as Ferran Torres has been converted into a striker, leaving Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden as the natural options out wide.
While Gabriel Jesus has been utilised as a right-winger so far this season, his long-term future is as a striker as well. So, it makes sense that Manchester City wish to reinforce their attack, having been unable to sign Harry Kane in the summer. However, Pep Guardiola has no intention of swooping Fati away on a Bosman move as he does not want to sour his relationship with Barcelona.
The 18-year-old, on his part, is eager to stay put at Camp Nou as well, with Jorge Mendes only offering him to Manchester City in a bid to pressure Barcelona to move quickly in the renewal process.
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Barcelona, though, are currently in no position to hand Fati a new contract and are working on sorting out their financial mess first. Another player in the same boat as Fati is Pedri, who has also been linked with Manchester City lately. It now remains to be seen if Barcelona can muster up the funds to tie Fati down to a new contract, or if he is forced to depart like Messi this past summer.
