Barcelona: "Ansu Fati is not ready to return this year"
The current situation of FC Barcelona continues to be appalling, not only in terms of sports, but also economically and now the injuries of its players continue to be added to all this. Now the injured list would be joining Memphis Depay.
This is how the Barcelona player would be at least a month off the courts after the hamstring injury. So the Catalan club is now more affected at the front of the team, taking into account that the Dutch is one of the best performers at the top of the team.
It is not a secret for anyone that Barça is having a very bad time with their forward and lack of goal, this being one of the main causes of their poor results. Without goals there is no victory and without victories there are no points. So Xavi Hernández will have to fight against the current from now on.
Ansu Fati is not yet ready to return
After learning that they have lost Depay through injury, now Barcelona will have to postpone the arrival of Ansu Fati, so the young promise of the Catalan team will not be returning to the courts this year, but will have to wait until 2022.
This places Xavi's team in a very delicate situation right now, since the two of them are joined by the losses of Kun Agüero and Braithwaite. Considering that the return of Kun Aguero is not certain at all, considering the illness that the Argentine has and that could take him away from the courts permanently.
The Blaugrana coach, Xavi Hernández, currently only has one forward available and that is Luuk de Jong. A player who is not at his best right now and who has been severely criticized by the club's fans.
Four of five Barcelona forwards are injured right now. Ansu Fati's return was expected, but the decision to postpone his return is practically confirmed. The forward had planned to return for next December 18 against Elche.
A joint decision
However, both the player and the staff have talked and made the decision not to play until 2022. Neither party wants to assume the risk of suffering an injury again and as Xavi has announced on previous occasions, the player It will only return when it is 100%.
The initial prognosis of his last injury had been only four weeks, finally it will end up doubling, for which he will complete eight weeks off the court.
The main objective of the Catalan club is that Ansu Fati can play in the first game of 2022 or watch a few minutes there. This match will be played on January 2 in Mallorca.
Ansu Fati was injured on November 6 when they played a match for the Spanish League against Celta de Vigo. The young player and promise of world football suffered a fortuitous break in his hamstrings, when the forward was just recovering from his old injury that left him seven months without being able to play.
The Barcelona forward began to regain confidence and get his best rhythm. However, a new injury would take him away from the courts again. Barcelona's goal is for the young man to return as best he can to avoid any kind of relapse.
Xavi does not want to force any return
The priority of the Spanish coach right now is that his injured players return when they are at one hundred percent, regardless of the current circumstances of the club. So they will not force any player to return before time.
Right now the club has set itself the objective of ensuring that both Pedri and Ansu Fati can return in optimal conditions in order to help the team that needs them so much. Therefore, neither of them will be forced to return.
Despite the fact that the deficiencies in the attacks are quite noticeable in this team, Xavi and his coaching staff maintain the idea of waiting for the players regardless of the consequences that this brings.
So much so that today Xavi Hernández only has Luuk de Jong as his only weapon in the attack. So this player has the responsibility to show his face on the attack front of his team.
Luuk de Jong has barely had a few minutes since Xavi took the reins of the team, but from now on, the Spanish coach will have to trust him and take him into account, something he had not done until now. Luuk de Jong will be becoming the team's benchmark in attack.
This has also become a great opportunity for him, to be able to change the face that he has left so far at the club and start to gain the trust of the new team manager.
A Barcelona that has to row against the current to try to save this campaign that continues to be one of the worst in the last 20 years.