Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Make Fati ‘Approach’

With the January transfer window slamming shut a full two weeks ago, the time has come for unrestrained transfer speculations regarding the summer window to begin running rampant, and as one of the world’s richest and most successful clubs having a sub-par season, Liverpool are a prime candidate for the very wildest of rumours.

To wit, Ansu Fati, Barcelona’s golden boy of a few years ago — before the advent of Pedri and Gavi and big-name signings the club by any reasonable standard can’t afford — has fallen out of favour with the Catalonians, and three English clubs have reportedly made an advance towards the 20-year old.

Among them are Liverpool — the other two are Arsenal and Manchester United, with Chelsea a suspicious absence — who, if you’ve been paying attention, really don’t need another left-sided inside forward, but have plenty of other needs throughout the squad.

Ansu Fati was a spectacular talent when he broke into the Barcelona first team as a 16-year old, a bundle of close control, pace and youthful exuberance on the ball, but that was four years ago, and in the interim, the Guinea Bissau-born forward has missed nearly 100 games through injury, a stretch that appears to have taken a toll on a player barely out of his teens, with his ball carrying and dribbling cut nearly in half.

Certainly, if Barca are willing to do business at a reasonable price, Fati would represent an extremely high-upside restoration project, and recent history shows that the Reds are far from unwilling to take a chance on a player with an injury history, but given Fati’s position, the suggested competition in a potential bidding war, and the likelihood of Barcelona being reasonable, it’s hard to see this one panning out.