Heading into the new season, some new faces and some old faces will be seen at FC Barcelona. Not every arrival will be that of a new signing, but could also simply be the return of loan players as well. That is why, keeping everything into consideration, Barcelona needs a plan moving forward.
There will be players who arrive back from their loan spells and will be placed right back into the squad for pre-season due to positional requirements for the club. Others, with something to prove, will need to come in and showcase to new Barcelona coach Hansi Flick that they are still worth counting on.
However, there are also other cases such as that of 21-year-old forward Ansu Fati. The winger returns from his loan at Brighton over in the Premier League with less than ideal results, and not the continuity that both the player himself and Barcelona would have hoped for.
Yet, all hope is not lost for Ansu Fati just yet. As highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, the club is not willing to lose the qualities of such a difference-making player just yet. That is why Barcelona already have a plan set specifically for Ansu Fati that aims to work on his physicality and help bring out his best version to showcase to Hansi Flick.
The new arrivals in Flick’s coaching staff, Julio Tus and Raul Martinez, will be responsible for overlooking his physical development. Barcelona hopes for a repeat of the success the club managed with Pedri, helping the Spanish midfielder recover his best physical version that allowed him to play with much more consistency.
However, the club is not the only one that has to be committed to this operation. Ansu Fati himself, having clearly lost confidence in his abilities, needs to find that will again to succeed at the club. While he has stated that his goal remains to return to Barcelona and succeed, he still needs to come and prove it.
Still the heir to Lionel Messi’s iconic number ‘10’, nobody took it during his loan at Brighton as well. Now, during the preseason, he will have the chance to wear it again and prove that he was the right choice to take on that grand duty. However, he still only has two options moving forward with Barcelona.
Either the player can stay at Barcelona and prove his worth, something the club hopes for given that they do not wish to continue paying a majority of his salary for another club to make use of, or he can find an appropriate permanent exit.
For Barcelona, an offer worth equal to or exceeding €40 million would be considered justifiable. However, the club will still hope to help the player succeed at the Catalan club where he exploded into life in the first place.
