According to BBC Sport’s Guillem Balague, Ansu Fati had a ‘long chat’ with Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou before joining Brighton.
Balague suggested that Spurs were initially the favorites to sign the young talent, and a deal was reportedly on the brink of completion.
According to Balague, Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi’s persuasive skills played a crucial role in convincing Fati to join the south coast club.
De Zerbi reportedly assured the player that he was a vital part of Brighton’s future plans.
He wrote:
Tottenham were favourites to sign him and a deal was close to being done after Ansu had a long chat with manager Ange Postecoglou.
Ultimately though, it was the persuasive skills of Brighton coach Roberto de Zerbi that brought him to the south coast of England.
The two men hit it off right from the start and what pleased Ansu was that De Zerbi took time to explain to him that he considered him to be very much part of his plans.
David Ornstein’s account of how the transfer went down is different to Guillem Balague’s report.
Last month Ornstein reported that despite contrary reports, it was Spurs who rejected Ansu Fati and not the other way round.
Ornstein disclosed that Tottenham had been offered the opportunity to sign Ansu Fati, with several clubs, including Chelsea, considering the young player.
However, it was Postecoglou who decided to pursue a different profile of forward, focusing on Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson instead.
Speaking on The Athletic Football Podcast, Ornstein shared what he knows about the Fati’s move to Brighton:
“Clearly Ansu Fati was seen as Xavi and Barcelona as among the names they were willing to part with.
A number of clubs were offered him including Tottenham and Chelsea, they considered it, in the case of Tottenham, Ange Postecoglou was keen to pursue a different profile of forward, it appears that is Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest.”
Spurs ended up signing Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest for £47.5m late on deadline day.
