Ansu Fati complains about Barcelona playing time

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:00 CDT
• 3 min read

Ansu Fati recently signed a new Barcelona contract with a €1 billion release clause, but he has only made three La Liga starts this season…

Fati burst onto the scene with Barca in 2019, making his La Liga debut for the first team before he had even featured their reserves at the tender age of 16 years, nine months and 26 days.

A month later he became their youngest ever scorer, and he finished his first senior campaign with seven goals and an assist from 24 top-flight games, 11 of them starts.

READ: Xavi's 'dream' front three at Barcelona revealed

But in the three seasons since, Fati has only started one more game than in that first campaign. Knee and hamstring injuries haven't helped him in the last couple of years, but having now overcome those setbacks, he still finds himself on the bench.

Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha are Xavi's first choice wingers either side of Robert Lewnadowski, while Ferran Torres has been their primary understudy. Fati is still just 20, but his patience is beginning to wear thin.

Fati frustation

"Yes, I'm not going to lie to you," he answered when asked by Mundo Deportivo if he expected to have played a more prominent role this season. "I want to play but I understand that the coach is the one who decides, and I have to do my best every day to be able to turn it around."

READ: The 20 Spain youngsters with the most potential

Barca have a number of promising youngsters, with Gavi succeeding Pedri in winning European football's Golden Boy award in October while the 19-year-old Alex Balde has emerged as their first-choice left-back.

Fati isn't envious, though.

"You already see the level that he's showing at his age," he said of Gavi. "But I'm not surprised by how competitive he has, given how he trains. It's incredible and seeing him there, playing like that, makes me happy."