Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi has admitted he expects to be without Barcelona loanee Ansu Fati for “a long time” after his latest injury setback.
Fati, still only 21, joined Brighton on loan during the summer to try and reignite a career which has been plagued by serious injury issues ever since a knee injury in November 2020 cost him close to a year of his young career.
Handed his second start of the Premier League season at the weekend, Fati managed just 21 minutes against Nottingham Forest before limping to the bench, and reports suggest he is facing three months on the sidelines with a muscular problem.
“Ansu and [Tariq] Lamptey are both injured,” Brighton boss De Zerbi said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“We have lost them for a long time I think.”
Fati managed four goals and an assist in 14 appearances for Brighton before this latest setback, which could keep him on the sidelines until March.
Such an extended break is unfortunately nothing new for Fati. After 11 months out with a knee injury, a series of hamstring problems kept him out between November 2021 and April 2022, after which he struggled to showcase his best form for Barcelona.
The decision was made to loan Fati out this summer and the 21-year-old landed with Brighton, where he has been used largely as a substitute by De Zerbi.
There is no purchase clause in Fati’s loan deal with Brighton and so the winger will return to Barcelona next summer, when he will have three years remaining on his contract.
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