Ansu Fati far better than Lionel Messi at same age as stats show Spain youngster already outscoring Barcelona legend
SPAIN sensation Ansu Fati is outperforming Barcelona legend Lionel Messi at the same age, according to the stats.
The 17-year-old wonderkid has a far superior goals per minute ratio than the Argentine superstar had at the same stage of his career.
Fati averages a goal every 143.6 minutes compared to Messi's 233 in 2004.
Messi had made nine appearances for the Barca first team at 17, playing the full 90 minutes just once and scoring a single goal.
However, Fati's rise has been even more meteoric – bagging 11 goals and an assist in 36 appearances, including three full games before he even officially becomes an adult.
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Last month Fati signed a bumper new long-term contract with an incredible £367million buy-out clause.
The eye-watering figure is set to keep interested parties at bay until the deal concludes in 2024.
It marked a stellar September for the starlet as he was also named La Liga's player of the month after bagging three goals in three games to get Ronald Koeman's tenure off to a flyer.
He also became the second youngest player to ever play for Spain when he came off the bench against Germany.
Fati started the shock 1-0 defeat to Ukraine on Tuesday – with the winner catching Manchester United keeper David De Gea in no man's land.
The Guinea-Bissau-born star enjoyed a sensational record-breaking debut year as a pro with the Catalan giants in 2019-20.
The winger smashed an amazing ELEVEN records after graduating from Barcelona's famous La Masia academy.
Fati became the club's youngest ever goalscorer by netting against Osasuna, overtaking Messi and Bojan.
At 16 years and 298 days, he became the first player born in 2002 to play in LaLiga, before later becoming the youngest in history to bag a goal and assist in the same game.
Ansu Fati’s records
Ansu Fati smashed 11 records in his debut 2019-20 season.
- Fati is the second youngest player to play for Barcelona’s first team, aged 16 years and 298 days, and the first player born in 2002 to feature in a LaLiga game.
- After scoring in a 2-2 draw at Osasuna six days later, Fati overtook Lionel Messi and Bojan Krkic to become Barcelona’s youngest ever goalscorer.
- In being named in the starting XI against Valencia, Fati became the youngest ever Barcelona player to start at the Camp Nou, beating Marc Muniesa’s record set in 2009.
- Within seven minutes of the 5-2 win over Valencia, Fati had become the youngest player to provide a goal and assist in the same game in the history of La Liga.
- Fati’s goal against Valencia made him the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Camp Nou, aged 16 years and 318 days.
- That strike also made him the youngest player to ever reach two La Liga goals.
- The forward became the youngest player to feature for Barca in the Champions League, debuting against Borussia Dortmund at 16 years and 321 days old.
- His winning goal against Inter Milan in the Champions League group stages made him the competition’s youngest ever goalscorer, at 17 years and 40 days old.
- At 17 years and 48 days, he became the youngest player to feature in El Clasico in the 21st century.
- After scoring twice against Levante in February, Fati became the youngest player to score a brace in the history of LaLiga.
*as reported by Planet Football
Fati proved he could do it on the European stage too – becoming the youngest to play for Barca in the Champions League and then the youngest goalscorer in the history of the competition.
Although Messi and Fati came into the first-team set-up at slightly different times, if you compare their first 25 LaLiga appearances the stats are remarkably similar.
Fati started 12 times, bagging nine goals and an assist at an average of 121.8 goals a minute.
Messi – who took nearly a year longer than Fati to reach the same number of appearances – also started 12 games, netting eight goals and laying on three assists at a slightly higher average of 134.6 minutes per strike.
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