Ansu Fati
Barcelona, 2019–
Profile
Ansu Fati broke a 95-year national record to become Spain's youngest goalscorer at the age of 17 years and 311 days in September 2020. He had been only 16 when he made history with Barcelona, becoming the youngest player in La Liga history to register both a goal and an assist in the same game. In that 5-2 victory over Valencia, he needed just seven minutes to do so.
Only 110 seconds had passed when the forward scored from Frenkie de Jong's low cross, with a right-footed finish. Five minutes later, he advanced into the penalty area before playing the pass from which De Jong then scored. Many great players have progressed through Barça's Masia in the modern era, but since Pep Guardiola's departure in 2012 there have been fewer. Ansu will hope, in time, to join the list of greats.
Tactical analysis
Fati's ability to make diagonal dribbles encourage a variety of attacking combinations when he progresses into the final third. When he moves into central areas with possession, he invites teammates to overlap him from the spaces he has just vacated. He then has further options to advance that possession, via a pass or a combination.
If he opts against feeding a teammate or switching play, Fati favours shooting with his stronger right foot, often after taking an extra step infield and aiming across goal towards the far corner. Instead of relying on flair and tricks to beat opponents, he looks to use changes of speed to create the space he needs to get shots off – particularly from a static start.
Fati displays good tactical awareness when releasing the ball to teammates in central positions. He looks for cutbacks and horizontal passes across the penalty area that are closer to guided balls than they are standard crosses (below). He also often moves on to his left, to unsettle defenders attempting to pre-empt him going on to his right foot, while attacking them one on one. He slows down, before bursting away from pressure to either side of the defender, in a similar way to Eden Hazard used to do at the height of his career at Chelsea.
For all of his natural talent, the speed of Fati's connecting passes needs to improve. The pass prior to the assist is particularly crucial, given that defenders are so quickly drawn towards possession once it reaches the final third. This can contribute to spaces being created for another attacker to shoot from.
He possesses the ability to delay attacks through his changes of speed, thereby encouraging other attackers to advance. Because of this, there is an increasing emphasis on the detail of the supporting pass. Both the angle and timing of his pass release are impressive, but the speed of the delivery doesn't yet consistently complement the movements of his teammates.
Role at Barcelona
Barca's long-term preference for a 4-3-3 often sees Fati playing on the left of the front three, and combining with the overlapping Jordi Alba (below). Barca's attacks have historically been more focused down their left, largely through combinations between Alba and Lionel Messi and, for a period, Neymar. Fati's influence has grown when paired with the left-back; when he advances, Alba delays his supporting runs so that he has space to burst into when he does join the attack.
Alba's presence might take the attention of one defender away from Fati, but it also gives him a potential target when he is attempting to play a pass; should he release it to Fati, Messi would often drift from the right to combine and create as the third attacker, from the left inside channel. With Luis Suárez often occupying the right-sided central defender, and their overall preference of attacking towards the left, there exists the foundations of a potent attack.
Should the right-footed Nélson Semedo start at left-back instead of Alba, he struggles to offer the same supporting, overlapping runs, reducing Ansu's options. His positioning there, and his preference to offer support in central areas on his right foot, demands that Ansu adapts his position and movements towards a wide starting role, from where he is far less convincing. There is a willingness to attack around both sides of an opponent, but the promising forward remains more suited to doing so towards his right foot. While attacking down the line is more likely to succeed, he is considerably more reliant on support from teammates and considerably less successful. Even if, as expected, Quique Setién eventually uses him towards the right of Barca's front three, if Fati is to fulfil his potential this will need to improve.
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