Ansu Fati to Brighton: Roberto De Zerbi’s side being Barcelona winger's best option says it all about Seagulls’ progress

There are many aspects to the Brighton success story. It is a triumph of club building, controlling the pace of change, mature and intelligent leadership. More recently, their recruitment in markets from South America to the Far East has been celebrated.

The loan signing of Ansu Fati is a little different. This is no gem unearthed, this is a player who had been widely tipped to become a world superstar from the age of 16 when he became Barcelona's youngest player for 80 years, their youngest-ever scorer.

His journey to Brighton is not one from obscurity but from La Masia, the most famed academy in the game. Almost from the moment that he made his stunning breakthrough in August 2019, excitement abounded. That hyperbole quickly became difficult to quell.

"It is not normal," said then-Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde. "It is all a bit exaggerated. It is not normal that his first touch is a goal. It is not normal that his second is an assist and his third almost goes into the top corner. Everything will go back to normal."

Valverde spoke of having to deflate the expectations, of the need to protect the player. The words of Sergio Busquets at the time appear particularly prophetic now. "We have to support him because we know hard times will come," he pointed out. And come they did.

Fati's injury problems had begun even before he made the first team, a leg break threatening his progress in his early teens. The left knee would become a problem later. He has undergone four operations to repair it since first damaging it in November 2020.

The nadir came early last year when he left the field in tears. "We want to recover him mentally, give him love, because it is a difficult moment and we need him," said Xavi. "We want him never to be