Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi has on Tuesday sent a public message the way of on-loan Barcelona attacker Ansu Fati.
This comes amid mounting pressure on the youngster to return to the kind of form which once saw him widely considered to be the next superstar of Spanish football.
Ansu, for his part, made the move to the Premier League last summer.
After being deemed surplus to requirements by parent club Barcelona, the wide-man was snapped up by the aforementioned Brighton, amid hopes on the part of club and player alike of Ansu rediscovering his best on England’s south coast.
Owing to a combination of injury woes and a lack of production in the final third, however, as much has since failed to come to fruition.
In fact, across Brighton’s 29 Premier League outings to date, the 21-year-old has been afforded starts in just three.
Such disappointing numbers have given rise to suggestions in the media that the Barcelona brass, as a result, are prepared to cash in on Ansu this coming summer.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the aforementioned Roberto De Zerbi therefore made use of the opportunity to send some tough love the way of his under-performing attacker:
“Expectations with him (Ansu) are always very high,” Brighton’s headmaster began. “He has to give something more, because what he is doing is NOT enough. We are helping him. He is a good guy, and when you work with people like that you are happy if you can help them.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
