FC Barcelona: A unique sponsor for Ansu Fati | LaLiga Santander 2019

The striker grows under the protection of Messi, who plays with him practically the same role that Ronaldinho played in the landing of 10. Leo's brother represents the young star

Leo Messi He knows very well what it means to reach the first team of Barça when he is just a teenager. His debut, in a friendly match, against Porto, came when he was only 16 years. It was in November 2003. Its official premiere was expected almost another year: it arrived in October 2004, in a derby against Espanyol in Montjuic. When he began to be a regular in training with the elderly, Ronaldinho practically took it under his protection. Now, 16 years later, the Argentine is repeating that story. In this case, sheltering under his wings an Ansu Fati that is already treading very hard in the elite.

The Brazilian sponsored Messi as soon as he stepped on the first team's locker room. His, precisely, was the assistance that allowed the Argentine to release his scoring account in the League. The play was practically a carbon copy of which they had signed both shortly before, invalidated for offside. His celebration, riding a horse on top of Ronaldinho, was an image that went around the world. This Monday, LaLiga chose to recover another one, in which the current Barca captain melted into a hug with his friend, to compare it with another in which the great Barcelona flagship repeated that same gesture with Ansu Fati. In this case, after the first goal of the canterano (scored two) to Levante.

«Playing by his side is amazing. I always tell him that I will always be grateful, ”said Ansu Fati after the duel against the granota team. «I still have doubts about whether all this is real or not. I've been watching him play for many years and being with him is a dream, ”he insisted. On August 28, three days after his debut with the first Barca team, the young crack shared on his social networks an image in which Messi, with another hug, seemed to bless his arrival at the locker room. And his comment was already completely symptomatic: «Thank you, Leo Messi. For your words and gestures of affection towards me on such a special day. Both football and personal, you are the reference for the boys of La Masia. Eternally grateful!». He spared no praise.

Messi, of course, does not seem to have taken his surprise by surprise. “I was impressed the first day I saw him train, he caught my attention and the next game was debuting with us,” he said a few months ago at the gala of The Best Award. “You have to accompany him, help him slowly and let all this noise around him keep growing, because he has impressive conditions to be an important player,” he said. And he seems to have insisted on helping him. To the fullest Before Levante not only gave him two goal passes. Throughout the entire second part, he searched again and again to write his first hat trick with Barça. Antoine Griezmann, meanwhile, was fed up with throwing unchecks in the race. In most cases, sterile. As much as Quique Setién insists that the winter signing will be the return of Ousmane Dembélé, everything invites us to think that Ansu Fati will continue to have a lot of prominence. Above all, after the alarms have been triggered again with the Frenchman, who left Monday's training with discomfort. As reported by the club, by muscular fatigue. It happens that the precedents invite to take this official information with caution.

In Barça they are very aware that, with Ansu Fati, they have more than a rough diamond in their hands. That is why he opted to shield him with an agreement practically resistant to scares (and great fortunes). The entity that directs Josep Maria Bartomeu extended and improved his commitment to the young player, in which, until he signs his first contract as a professional, a termination clause of 170 million euros will appear. As soon as it is fully integrated into the first team, yes, this will become 400 million euros, with the corresponding salary improvement. Bori Fati, the player's father, is officially his representative. At least, since the end of last year. But, To seal this agreement, he had the collaboration of another Messi: Rodrigo, one of the brothers of the Barcelona captain. Since last September, together with the father, he has been the representative of the boy, who was previously led by Junior Minguella, a guy with an illustrious surname in the Catalan world.