Ansu Fati suffers knee injury setback ahead of Vallecano clash

Barcelona forward Ansu Fati will miss the club’s La Liga clash with Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday 27 evening because of pain in his right knee, the Catalan club has confirmed.

It is not the same knee as he had surgery on last season, ruling him out for nearly a year from November 2020 to September this year, but still comes as a major blow for Barça because of the youngster’s positive impact since his return to action.

Other than confirming that Fati will miss the trip to Madrid, the club has offered no further timeframe on how long he might be sidelined but there are hopes he will be back sooner.

Ansu Fati was ruled out of the Barcelona trip to Rayo Vallecano with a knee injury. | PHOTO: Getty Images |

Desperate for wins after taking maximum points in fewer than half of their opening nine La Liga games and struggling in the Champions League, Barça faces further crucial matches against Alaves, Dynamo Kyiv, and Celta Vigo in the next week and a half before the November international break.

Fati has two goals and one assist from only 168 minutes of La Liga action so far this season, although he couldn’t inspire Barça to anything more than a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the first Clásico of the season at Camp Nou over the weekend.

Fati in recent weeks committed his long-term future to Barça with a new contract until 2027, including a buyout clause set at an enormous €1bn.

With his previous deal coming to an end next year, he has admitted there were offers to leave. But he refused such advances, insisting it remains his ‘dream’ to play with Barça.

Fati has signed a long-term contract with Barcelona. | PHOTO: Eric Alonso/GettyImages |

Media reports in Spain even claimed that the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Paris Saint-Germain made contact via ‘various intermediaries’ and were willing to offer the 18-year-old ‘more than double’ his wages to leave Camp Nou.

“Like I’ve said to Jorge [Mendes], from day one, my first option was to stay at Barça,” Fati said after committing his future to the Catalans.

“They understood that perfectly and with the president, we were able to reach an agreement. I’m very happy that the club has confidence in me. It could be that I had offers from outside, but I wanted to be really clear and my dream was to stay here and be a success here.”