Football: Barca's Ansu Fati On Verge Of Loan Move To Brighton

Roberto De Zerbi: FC Barcelona's Spain international forward Ansu Fati appears to be on the verge of a loan move to Premier League outfit Brighton for the 2023-24 season.

The 20-year-old missed Barca's Thursday training session, with the Spanish press reporting that he had travelled to Brighton to undergo his medical with the club that finished sixth in the Premier League last season to qualify for the Europa League.

Sevilla had been interested in signing Fati, but Brighton was willing to pay around 80 per cent of the five million euro salary he currently earns at Barca -- something that the side from the south of Spain was unable to do, reports Xinhua.

Fati has struggled to recover the level he showed when he broke into the Barcelona first team as a 16-year-old in 2019, after suffering a serious knee injury in November 2020 which he needed four operations to fully recover from.

Last season he scored 10 goals in 51 appearances, although most of those were from the substitutes' bench, but those performances have seemingly failed to convince coach Xavi Hernandez.

Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbi has a reputation for attacking football, while the club is also known for developing talent.