According to The Athletic, Man Utd recently paid 100 million Euros to Barca to recruit the player known as ‘Messi’s successor’ in 2020.

The player in question is Ansu Fati, who made his debut for Barca in the 2019/20 season and has made a big impression. During this campaign, Fati played 33 games and scored 8 goals, becoming Barcelona’s youngest goalscorer and finishing second in the 2020 Golden Boy award behind Erling Haaland.

Witnessing Ansu Fati’s talent, Man Utd under the guidance of coach Ole Solskjaer tried to compete for this player from Barca. Specifically, the Red Devils officially sent an offer worth 100 million Euros to the Nou Camp team to convince them to release the player.

Ansu Fati was once personally rated by Messi as his successor at Barca. Photo: Getty

To increase the chances of success, Man Utd also negotiated with Fati’s agent Jorge Mendes. However, all efforts of the Manchester team were unsuccessful. Ansu Fati stayed at Barca and played with the team for many seasons, but then he gradually faded and was loaned to Brighton since the summer of 2023.

This season, Ansu Fati has returned to Barca but continues to be underused. He only played 2 minutes in the Champions League when he came on as a substitute in the opening match of the C1 Cup, winning 2-1 against Monaco on September 19.

Ansu Fati is 21 years old this year, he was highly appreciated for his talent and was praised by Lionel Messi himself and expected to be his “successor” at Barca. The Argentine superstar once shared that Fati has special potential, not only because of his technique and speed but also because of his professional spirit and attitude.

Although he doesn’t have many opportunities to show his talent at the moment, at 21 years old, Fati can still rise up and become a real star soon. As Messi has always expressed his support for Fati, he believes that this player can become a big star if he maintains his development in the right direction.