Ansu Fati, the first omission of the Flick era: Sentenced?

Ansu Fati has serious chances of becoming the first omission of Hansi Flick for the second half of the 2024/25 season. The '10' trained alongside the group on Friday and seemed to have completely overcome the injury to his right hamstring that sent him to the Barcelona infirmary over a month ago. However, the German coach left him out of the 23 players called up to face Leganés, a match where the mister had 24 players available.

LaLiga only allows a maximum of 23 players in each squad, and the man from Heidelberg opted for Pablo Torre, another of the players pointed out to leave Barça in January. Eric García also had his chance against the 'pepineros', returning to the XI for the first time since the clash against Alavés at the beginning of October. The '24', in fact, had not been part of the lineup in his natural position (center-back) since the Catalan derby against his former team, Girona (September 15).

Ansu Fati, between a rock and a hard place this season

At this point in the season, Ansu's situation is becoming dramatic. The winger has barely accumulated 158 minutes of action spread over 7 matches (4 in La Liga, 3 in Champions), with only one start against Sevilla (he played 76 minutes). The Seville team was, until recently, the most interested in negotiating his loan in January, but the inactivity of the player from Bissau has cooled the negotiations.

Although the '10' impressed Flick in his first training sessions of the summer, injuries have sidelined him from a team with extremely high competition in each of its lines. The great form of Raphinha and Dani Olmo, combined with the opportunism of Ferran Torres and a Pau Víctor always ready to help, leave the 21-year-old player without a place in the Barcelona squad and with serious doubts about the future, as his first experience outside of Spain (at Brighton) was also not positive.