Ansu Fati renews with FC Barcelona and ensures that ‘nobody is going to match what Messi has done’

The extreme youth of the FC Barcelona Ansu Fati, heir to No. 10 of Lionel Messi At the Barça club he assured this Thursday after renewing until 2027 that it is not a pressure to wear that number because “nobody is going to match what Messi has done.”

“For me it is not any pressure but one more motivation, nobody is going to match what Leo has done. I follow my own path and look more at what I can do than the number, “Fati said at a press conference, together with the president of Barça, Joan Laporta.

The 18-year-old Barça player signed his renewal with Barça on Wednesday night for the remainder of the season and five more, just after the victory over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League.

Fati, turned into a Camp Nou idol since his debut with the first team in 2019, will have a release clause of 1 billion euros (1.16 billion dollars).

“It has always been my dream to be able to succeed here, to grow here as a player and as a person and I will try to work every day to give the club what it needs from me,” said Fati, dressed in a sober black suit and white shirt.

The young winger, a native of Guinea Bissau, admitted that he had other offers, but “from the first day I told Jorge (Mendes, his agent) that my first option was to stay at Barça, he understood it and together with the president we have been able to reach an agreement ”.

Fati has just returned to competition after almost a year off the pitch due to a knee injury, but the Barça player assured that his injury “is already something forgotten.”

Sure to come back

“I am very calm, very happy because I do not have any discomfort and I hope it continues like this,” he said, assuring that “I never had the doubt that I was going to play again.”

Formed at La Masía, the Barcelona quarry, this Thursday’s event opened with a video in which Fati was compared to legends such as Iniesta, Puyol or Xavi Hernández, also from that training center.

“It’s a dream to be there, next to those players, but I haven’t done anything yet, I have to keep working, mark my path and hopefully one day, have a career like theirs,” he said.

For now, Fati will have a new challenge on Sunday in the league classic against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou.

“I am very calm because I know that the team is going to give everything to win us,” he said, adding that “playing a classic is always a special motivation.”

The young winger is one of Barça’s mainstays in the renewal undertaken by the club with players such as Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi.

“We know that the present and the future of the club with players like Ansu is assured,” said President Laporta, who was full of praise for his forward.

“He has an extraordinary maturity, has a superlative football talent and is called to achieve many successes,” concluded Laporta. (D)