Fati Promoted to First Team, Gets New Shirt Number

FC Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati has officially been promoted to the club's first team, and his release clause has soared dramatically as a result of his new status.

On Wednesday, Barca announced that the 17-year-old Spain international, who had been playing for the senior side since the start of the 2019/20 campaign, had officially been promoted to the club's first team.

Ansu Fati has also had his release clause raised from 170 million euros to 400 million euros. The Guinea-Bissau born attacker has been training with the first team since the start of last season and is now officially a first team player. He will be taking Arturo Vidal’s shirt number (22), who recently left for Inter Milan.

Incredibly, Barcelona’s new number 22 is yet to play a single minute for Barcelona B. He will be jumping straight from Juvenil A (U19) to the first team.

Only 17, plays like he’s 2️⃣2️⃣ ...
✨ @ANSUFATI ✨ pic.twitter.com/KdAymYZlfH

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 23, 2020

After making his first team debut against Real Betis in August of last year, he has scored 8 goals in 33 appearances, and has since set a number of records:

This month, Fati managed to become the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Spanish national team when he scored against Ukraine, at the age of just 17 years and 311 days. Ansu is also the youngest goalscorer in Champions League’s history, scoring the winning goal away against Inter Milan in December last year.

With a lack of pace up front, Ansu Fati will surely play a big part in Ronald Koeman’s team in the upcoming season. He was a part of the starting 11 in the Gamper trophy game last Saturday, and could feature again on Sunday when Villareal travel to the Camp Nou for the first La Liga game of the season.

September 23, 2020