Ansu Fati: How Barcelona beat Real Madrid and Sevilla to the signing of Guinea-Bissau teenager

BetOdds African All Stars Barcelona Primera DivisiÃ³n Real Betis Barcelona v Real Betis

Three Spanish giants were interested in taking the youngster before he joined La Masia in 2013

Ansu Fati's father, Bori, revealed his son joined Barcelona at the tender age of 10Â becauseÂ the reigning SpanishÂ champions came to their home to convince them.

Born in Guinea-Bissau in 2002, Fati moved to Spain at the age of six and joined Barcelona's La Masia in 2012.

He was rewarded with his first professional contract with the Blaugrana in July, after progressing through the ranks in the youth team.

On Sunday, Fati made his father happy after coming on as a 78th-minute substitute for Carles Perez to make his Barcelona debutÂ in their 5-2 win over Real Betis.

"This is the happiest day of my life. When he told us he was being called up by Valverde I started to cry and my wife too. When he came on, we were on cloud nine," Bori was quoted as saying by AS.

"At six or seven, he came to Spain. I had come here before and I didn't know he played football. They told me I was not aware of how good my son was and that he was dribbling everybody."

His creative skills caught the eyes of several Spanish clubs with Sevilla and Real Madrid tabling their offers for the youngster.

Fati is now tied to Barcelona untilÂ 2022 but his father recalled how the Camp Nou outfit edged their league rivals to his signing years ago.

"We were at Sevilla and Real Madrid offered me better conditions than Barcelona for my son. But they came to me house to convince us. Albert Puig came and told me that my son had to sign for Barcelona," he continued.

"Sevilla got mad and Monchi asked how much they offered, that he wanted him to stay at Sevilla. At nine years old, he went to Sevilla and they left him without playing for a year."

2019-08-26 23:00:02

Comments

Send Your Comment

Download Application