A more muscular Ansu Fati returns to Mallorca after an ordeal of injuries

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Ansu Fati, in one of Barcelona's recent training sessions. Alejandro García (EFE)

Three seasons ago, the former Barcelona technical secretary, Ramon Planes, ordered coach Ernesto Valverde to attend a Barcelona youth game.

Ansu Fati (Bissau, Guinea-Bissau; 19 years old) was the best by far and Planes asked him to bring him up to train with the first team.

Although the technician initially resisted, he ended up giving in to the insistence of the sports area.

The next day, Ansu scored three goals in training.

Enough for Valverde to be convinced and for the striker to screw himself into the first team at the age of 16.

The experience, after fighting for so long to reach the goal, made Ansu understand football as if every minute and every ball were the last, unable to negotiate with the effort, injured on too many occasions.

The need for the team in two courses of disappointments also pressed him at every moment.

Now he comes back a bull, even though from within the club they believe that it would have been much better for him to undergo surgery after the last setback (strain of the left biceps femoris) instead of undergoing conservative treatment.

This Sunday, against Mallorca, Ansu returns.

“He will play a few minutes.

He feels good and is smiling.

It's a shame not being able to use it these months because it makes the difference, it's special and different”, Xavi conceded.

Ansu wanted to be in the second leg against Eintracht, but from the coaching staff and in collusion with the doctor they told him that there was no need to risk, that they had wingers like Dembélé, Ferran and Adama, and that it was not as urgent as before.

"I hope that, shortly, he can be with the team," the striker announced two weeks ago.

But it did not happen against Cádiz, Real or Rayo.

He now hopes to put an end to the string of injuries he has suffered, to the point that he has been out for 484 days in the last two seasons.

“He doesn't have any discomfort, although he will go little by little to pick up rhythm and sensations.

He has made a comfortable recovery, perhaps more than he should, to face the end of the season well, ”they point out from Fati's environment.

These two courses have not been easy for Ansu, who has only been able to play 20 games (with a balance of 10 goals), weighed down by injuries.

It all started when the inner meniscus of the left knee broke in November 2020, after an entry by Mandi (Betis) and the subsequent surgical intervention.

An injury that was complicated every time the trainers increased the workloads.

He had to undergo surgery on three other occasions.

But his agent, Jorge Mendes, recommended that he visit Porto's doctor and head of medical services for the Portuguese team, José Carlos Noronha.

That and that he began to entrust himself in Madrid to the physiotherapist Joaquín Juan, who has worked with Gasol, Nadal and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Thus, after the injury against Celta in November, he spent a month alone in a boutique hotel in Madrid and, later, when he broke again against Athletic, he spent another month in a flat in the capital with his brother Braima.

Conscientious and methodical, Ansu did not take a single day off and worked morning and evening to reshape his body.

"It's very good.

Physically, he has made a radical change that can be seen from afar because he set out to change his metabolism to be more muscularly mature.

He has gained kilos of muscle mass ”, they point out from the footballer’s environment.

Already at home, he has continued the readaptation with the Barça physiotherapists.

"He wants to feel like a footballer," adds a source from his circle.

The team and the stands are also looking forward to the return of number 10, the number he inherited from Messi.

Because he always does it with a goal, as happened in his first round of the year against Levante (one goal in nine minutes), then against Dinamo kyiv (1 goal in 87 minutes) after overcoming a minor knee setback, and also against Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup (1 goal in 54).

“When he shoots he always scores, he has a gift.

He has superlative football talent and is called to achieve glory, ”President Joan Laporta defined him when he was renewed until 2027 with a clause of 1,000 million.

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