Time for Barcelona to finally move on from broken Ansu Fati?

We’ve been here before.

Ansu Fati looks decent in training. Ansu Fati is working hard and with a smile on his face. Ansu Fati gets injured.

Ad infinitum.

The latest injury to befall the 21-year-old is related to the sole of his right foot.

At this stage it isn’t clear how long he will be out for, but he will definitely miss the club’s tour to the United States, where it was thought he would again be given a clean slate and a chance to show what he can do.

Given that he’s unlikely to be fit enough before the close of the transfer window to create the right impression, Barca would appear to be stuck with Ansu until at least January.

Photo by Joan Valls/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty Images

With Vitor Roque potentially on the move, if and when Ansu is fit again, there is a small window of opportunity for him to give Hansi Flick food for thought.

However, he’s never going to be the player he was because Ansu Fati is broken. Plain and simple.

I’ll hang my hat on the prediction that even if he gets back to being fully fit and sharp enough to challenge for a position, that within two or three months he will be back on the treatment table again.

Maybe Barca only have themselves to blame.

After all, the pressure on his young shoulders when he came through as a 16-year-old must’ve been a huge burden, and the club played him at every opportunity.

As soon as performances levels dipped or injuries became a common occurrence, he was no longer of use.

It’s worth the club giving that more than a moments thought as Lamine Yamal navigates his way through the early stages of his own professional career.

Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images

Indeed, it’s the emergence of players like Lamine and Barca’s insistence on signing others in the various attacking roles which would more than likely see Ansu way down the priority list come match time in any event.

What purpose can it serve to keep hoping that a player, whose young body just can’t cope with the rigours of the modern game, will miraculously turn back the clock and become a killer marksman once more?

Since September 2019, he has missed 590 days of action – not far off two years out of the five from the time of his first injury, detailed as a knee problem.

If the Blaugranes are serious at getting back to the very top table of domestic and European football, then they can’t take any passengers with them and have to be ruthless.

It’s a real shame that Ansu Fati’s career has nosedived in the way it has, but Barca sadly have must move on.