Where Ansu Fati could fit into the Brighton starting XI

Now all the excitement has died down following the sensational loan signing of Ansu Fati from Barcelona, attention turns to where exactly the Spanish international fits into the Brighton starting XI?

Because the youngest ever goal scorer for Barcelona and the Spanish national team, the heir to Lionel Messi and a man tipped as a future Ballon d’or winner has not come to the Amex for a year to sit on the bench. Obviously.

Tony Bloom is probably expecting maximum minutes from the biggest star ever to sign for Brighton, given the Albion chairman sanctioned breaking the club’s wage structure to contribute a rumoured 80 percent of Fati’s Barca wages.

Roberto De Zerbi has spoken about how important it is that he and Brighton help get Fati’s career back on track following a succession of injury problems.

“If you work with this talent, you have much responsibility because it’s our football heritage and we can’t make mistakes with these players because football needs this talent and you have to manage it in different ways,” De Zerbi said after Brighton confirmed the signing of Ansu Fati.

“I’ve always thought like this. Especially for the big, big talent, I feel the responsibility to help this talent to become great players.”

“Sometimes the coaches think only of the result, only of their career but football needs to have great players. It’s a big responsibility and I feel it. I think our style is very close with his characteristics, with his qualities.”

Having only arrived in England 48 hours before Brighton beat Newcastle United 3-1, Fati was not involved in the win over the Saudi Sportswashers.

But De Zerbi has confirmed that both Fati and £25 million capture from Lille Carlos Baleba will be available for selection after the international break.

The duo could make their debuts against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday 17th September, with their home bows coming four days later against AEK Athens in the Europa League.

Fati has spent most of his career playing as an inverted left winger at Barcelona. He runs at opponents, cuts inside and then uses his favoured right foot to either create a chance for a teammate or go for goal himself.

If De Zerbi were to use Ansu Fati on the left for Brighton, that would put the Barca youngster in direct competition with Kaoru Mitoma.

The Japanese Bullet Train has been one of the biggest success stories since De Zerbi took over as Albion head coach last September.

And whilst the additional commitment of the Europa League means De Zerbi deploying more rotation, even a 50-50 split of games between Mitoma and Fati would not appear the best use of two thrilling attacking players with the ability to win matches single-handedly.

For the first time in many years, Brighton appeared to have some strength in depth in the striker department. We say appeared, because Danny Welbeck missed the Newcastle game and Evan Ferguson was then sent home from Republic of Ireland duty due to injury.

Julio Enciso has been used as a false nine before but he too is unavailable, facing at least four months out having undergone surgery on his meniscus – the same injury that left Fati on the shelf for nine months and stalled his career. Not that we want to worry you or anything.

Depending on the severity of the problems suffered by Welbeck and Ferguson, Joao Pedro could be the only fit centre forward available to De Zerbi once Premier League action resumes.

Fati has played through the middle before on rare occasions for Barcelona. And having scored 29 goals in 112 career appearances at a rate of one every 152 minutes, he is a player whose finishing ability you want in dangerous areas.

On the face of it, Fati’s 5’10 height does not scream of the target man De Zerbi tends to favour leading the line in his 4-2-3-1.

But neither did the 5’8 frame of Leandro Trossard, yet the Vampire of Genk was De Zerbi’s first choice in that role before their falling out. Trossard responded with five goals in De Zerbi’s opening eight matches at the helm.

There can be no doubting that Fati is a better player than Trossard. He is also stronger and quicker. Fati’s interpretation of playing through the middle would sit somewhere between Ferguson and Trossard, which sounds pretty damn exciting.

The biggest indicator of when Ansu Fati fits in at Brighton might however lie in the club’s determination to get a deal over the line once the extent of Enciso’s knee problem became clear.

Many Barcelona observers have long thought that as the successor to Messi, Fati would literally follow the career path of Argentina’s World Cup winning captain.

Messi famously started out as a winger, the same as Fati. Messi began to play centrally from the 2008-09 season at the age of 21, once Pep Guardiola was in charge at Camp Nou. Fati turns 21 in October.

With Brighton having a vacancy at number 10 due to Enciso being ruled out, could De Zerbi be set to transform Fati from winger to number 10 or false nine in the same way Guardiola did for Messi?

Ansu Fati could play on the left for Brighton. He could play down the right. DeZerbiBall is so flexible that he will undoubtedly fulfil multiple roles over the coming season and bring fireworks to all of them.

But the most likely scenario would seem to be regular football through the middle, adding a whole new string to his bow and allowing Fati to potentially return to Camp Nou a more rounded player than he left.

Brighton & Hove Albion helping develop and improve world class for Barcelona. Wonder if that will that not feel completely mad?