Pressure from coaches is, on many occasions, key for players to sign for their teams. The Italian Roberto De Zerbi called Ansu Fati five times to join Brighton's ranks, once it became known that the Blaugrana coaching staff did not have him as an indisputable piece. It is not the first time that a coach gets on the phone nor the last time that he ends up convincing a footballer from another team to come to his. When he arrived at the club headquarters, the entire staff of the Italian coach waited for him at the door, greeted him one by one and applauded him. “We're going to have fun,” De Zerbi told a Fati that he felt affection for for the first time in a long time. However, the feeling is that it would have been a better choice to choose Sevilla, a club that will play in the Champions League, which was waiting for him with open arms in an already known League and a close environment.
But the decision was made by Ansu. Helped by Jorge Mendes, the plenipotentiary agent of great players who, while negotiating with Sevilla, had already drawn up the contracts with Brighton. In the end it was a quick operation, surely conditioned by the arrival of João Félix, also a Mendes footballer. “To Barça or goodbye,” the Portuguese Atlético player came to say to his agent. João is already at Barça and Ansu is at Brighton, with two very different messages at the beginning of the summer. Fati always maintained that he wanted to stay at Barça. He told everyone. Including Mendes. Xavi always said in public that he was counting on him, but added that until the market ended nothing could be guaranteed. In the preseason and the League began, Ansu did not start any game despite being the second scorer.
João Félix bet big and said that he wanted to go to Barça and not stay at Atlético. Ansu went to Brighton and Félix went to Barça. Could João have arrived without Ansu leaving? Very difficult. Xavi also opted for a good card: Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old boy who has already broken almost all precocity records. Suddenly the entire left wing of the attack (Dembélé, Ansu and Abde) had left, but João Félix arrived, accompanied by another João, Cancelo, this one to cover a historic patch on the right side.
President Laporta wanted Neymar or João Félix to have a crack at Montjuïc. He got it. Meanwhile, Ansu must succeed in a year in the Premier, without acclimatization time, with a very special coach, whom Guardiola has praised on several occasions, and in a new environment. Sevilla would have been a better option, but Fati is a young man who agreed to wear the number 10 after Messi left and with enough football ability to shine in the Premier. Now everything is going very quickly, but we should not demand that Lamine win the games alone or that Ansu adapt to an unknown universe immediately, no matter how much pressure is placed on both.
