West Ham wanted Barca wonderkid

  • by Staff Writer
  • Wednesday, 18th September 2019

It has been reported that West Ham tried to sign Barcelona's newest young star during the summer.

According to a story on mundodeportivo.com, West Ham were one of four clubs that attempted to entice Ansu Fati - who made his first team debut against Real Betis last month at the age of just 16 - to England.

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During the summer West Ham, Real Madrid, Seville and Ligue One side Nice all held talks with the player's family and representatives as it briefly appeared as if Barca were willing to allow him to leave.

But that is unlikely to happen now since Fati made his first team debut last month, following which he has featured on a further three occasions - twice in the starting XI (against Valencia and Borussia Dortmund) - and scored two goals.

Born in in Guinea-Bissau in 2002 the winger moved to Spain at the age of six where he was spotted by Seville, who signed him to their Academy along with his older brother Braima.

By the age of just eight he was being chased by La Liga's biggest teams including Real Madrid and Barcelona, who successfully lured him from Seville having provided the Fati family with a home at their La Masia youth complex.

Ansu was impressing for Barca in the UEFA youth league at the age of just 13 and he was handed a place in the Catalan club's reserve team squad last season, although he was an unused substitute on that particular occasion.

After some indecision on their part, during which time West Ham were one of the club's to register serious interest, Barcelona handed Fati a new three-year contract which included a €100million release clause during the summer.

And since then he has gone on to stake a serious claim for a place in Ernesto Valverde's starting XI with goals against Osasuna and Valencia.

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As far as West Ham are concerned that ship has now well and truly sailed, although fans should perhaps take some comfort from the fact that the club are clearly identifying potential stars of the future such as Fati.

Since Manuel Pellegrini's team arrived at the club West Ham's transfer policy has made a significant shift towards signing young players with a great future ahead of them.

Albian Ajeti, Goncalo Cardoso and Pablo Fornals were all signed during the most recent transfer window -whilst prior to that, the Hammers invested heavily in players such as Issa Diop who has already been valued around the £75million mark.

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