Rising tensions between Barcelona forward and superagent as future hangs in balance

On Monday night, there was a meeting between Barcelona officials and superagent Jorge Mendes. Vice-president Rafa Yuste, director of football Mateu Alemany, and soon-to-be sporting director Deco attended the meeting on the club’s behalf.

One of the main topics on the agenda was the future of Ansu Fati. The 20-year-old attacker has been put up for sale by the Catalan giants but the player is very reluctant to leave this summer.

As such, SPORT is reporting that tensions are rising between Fati and his agent, Mendes, owing to their contrasting stances on his future.

While Fati remains intent on staying at Barça and succeeding at the club, Mendes has given his word to the La Liga champions that he will do everything in his power to get him to leave in the summer.

Mendes is not only working for the benefit of the club, but also believes that an exit would be in the best interests of his client, Ansu.

The Barcelona academy ace endured a difficult season in 2022/23 and the Portuguese superagent feels that another campaign like that could fully stall the youngster’s progress.

As such, he is trying to place Fati at a top Premier League club, but there has been no breakthrough. Mendes even proposed the option of Fati moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers as part of a deal that would see Ruben Neves join Barcelona.

The Blaugrana would be open to such an arrangement. But, Fati has no desire to play for Wolves despite his agent insisting that it will only be an intermediate step in his career before moving to a bigger club.

Barcelona are running out of time and need to finalise an exit at the earliest possible, with Fati being their favoured candidate to depart.

But with no attractive offers and the player’s unwillingness to leave, Mendes faces a huge challenge to secure his exit before June 30, especially with tension said to be at a maximum between him and his client.

The superagent, though, believes that he can still convince Fati and his family that an exit is the best option for him. However, whether he is able to place the forward at a top club remains to be seen.