Ansu Fati reveals why he didn't join Real Madrid as a youngster

Barcelona forward Ansu Fati has suggested that he could have joined Real Madrid as an academy player, but the club lacked the facilities to meet his needs at the time.

Born in Guinea-Bissau but raised in Herrera near Sevilla, Fati made the move north east to Catalonia in 2012 when he was recruited to play for Barcelona.

Earlier than that, the emerging talent had a trial at Real Madrid. But while Barcelona’s youth facilities at La Masia had the facility to house young players, Los Blancos didn’t.

“At that time, [Real Madrid] didn't have a residence for their young players. For this reason, we decided that La Masia was the best option,” Fati told L’Equipe.

“I remember seeing La Masia in the background, shortly before arriving. The closer we got, the more nervous I felt. At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to come and, after a week, I didn't want to leave!

“Marc Serra, my first coach at La Masia, he made me quickly understand which club I had landed with and that, during matches, I had to respect my rivals. He also encouraged me to score more goals and to stop making these kinds of superfluous gestures.”

Fati made his first-team debut for Barcelona in 2019 aged just 16. He went on to play 33 times during the remainder of that season, although injury problems limited him to only 25 appearances in total across both of the two following campaigns.

The player has been back in action so far in 2022/23, but the Barça coaching staff have carefully managed his fitness. So while he has featured in every La Liga and Champions League game, only five of his 20 appearance have been as a starter.

Having missed Euro 2020 because of injury, Fati was part of Spain’s World Cup in Qatar. He didn’t start any games but came off the bench against both Japan and Morocco.