West Ham Failed With Surprise Summer Swoop for Barcelonas Breakout Wonderkid Ansu Fati

​16-year-old Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati was a target for West Ham United in the summer, but the Hammers' move fell through after the teenager penned a new deal with the Catalans.

In the absence of Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez, Ernesto Valverde gave the young winger an opportunity in the first-team and he has not been disappointed. The starlet has looked fearless for Barça as he grabbed his first and second goals for the club in consecutive La Liga fixtures. In doing so, he became Barcelona's youngest ever goalscorer at the age of 16 and 304 days.

Anssumane Fati,Achraf Hakimi,Manuel Akanji

Fati was again given a starting berth by his coach in ​La Blaugrana's 0-0 ​Champions League stalemate away to ​Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.


However, he might have been plying his trade in east London according to Mundo Deportivo (via ​Sport Witness), who claim ​West Ham held talks with the player's family over the off-season as they tried to convince him to leave Barcelona.


​Real Madrid, Sevilla and Nice were also tracking Fati, yet the forward chose to sign a contract extension that will keep him with his current employers until 2022.


Barça academy director José Mari Bakero was influential in retaining his services, whilst Lionel Messi's brother - a representative of Fati - also played a role in Fati's decision to stay in Catalonia.

Ernesto Valverde

Having joined La Masia from Sevilla's youth setup in 2012, the youngster progressed well at youth level before bursting onto the scene for Valverde's men at the start of 2019/20.


A towering header versus Osasuna in August introduced Fati to the footballing public, his reputation continuing to grow with a strong showing and another goal against Valencia in the following round.


Source : 90min