Newcastle United will only be handed their chance to sign Ansu Fati from Barcelona this summer if the player is told by manager Xavi to his face “I’m not counting on you”.
That’s according to COPE, who cover the player’s future today amid continued claims that he could leave the Nou Camp in the summer transfer window.
Newcastle were thrown into the mix for Fati yesterday, with reports in Spain putting them on a list of several Premier League sides interested in him.
That report was followed by claims that his agent Jorge Mendes had travelled to Barcelona to discuss Fati’s situation and present offers to the Catalans for him.
COPE now have their say on the matter and insist that no transfer, to Newcastle or otherwise, will be happening until Fati is told he is no longer a part of Xavi’s plans.
They explain that Mendes was in Barcelona on Tuesday to meet the parents of three Barcelona players on his books, Alejandro Balde, Lamine Yamal and Ansu Fati
The first two were meetings to discuss new contracts but the meeting with Bori Fati was to do with his future.
The meeting with Fati’s father was to find out if his son had changed his mind on a possible transfer this summer and wanted to leave Barcelona. He learned that he had not, and the forward will stay firm on his decision to stay.
That stance will only change if Xavi himself ‘told him to his face’ that he is not a part of his plans for the club moving forwards. That, it seems, has not yet happened and so any talk of a possible move to Newcastle can be ignored for the time being.
