Roberto De Zerbi’s recent comments on Ansu Fati have not gone down well with the player or his entourage, who are now actively looking at life beyond Brighton and Hove Albion.
That’s according to Estadio Deportivo, who say the forward will not rush making a decision on where he’ll play next season, but it won’t be Brighton.
They explain that Fati is having a difficult time of things at Brighton of late, with his loan move from Barcelona not having worked out how anyone had hoped.
He’s played 24 games and managed four goals and one assist but his role in the team has been ‘intermittent’ at best and his injury problems have followed him from Barcelona too.
Fati also recently found himself being publicly criticised by Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi, which was seen, at least by Estadio, as the Italian making it clear they don’t want him long-term.
His ‘words have not gone down well’ with the player’s camp, who have now made it clear he won’t be returning to Brighton even if they did want him.
Instead, Fati will be going back to Barcelona on July 1st and deciding his future from there. For now, the focus is on finishing the season with Brighton and then getting back to Catalonia.
His hope is to delay and see who becomes the next Barcelona coach and whether he can work his way into their plans rather than being forced out of the Camp Nou.
Ironically De Zerbi has been heavily linked with the position in recent weeks, so it would be interesting to see what his decision would be if the Brighton coach ended up being the one chosen by Joan Laporta and his team.
Either way, it’s stated Fati won’t be returning to Brighton having been left annoyed by De Zerbi’s decision to out him in his recent comments.
