FC Barcelona crisis worsens as Ansu Fati undergoes surgery, out for months

FC Barcelona has officially announced that forward Ansu Fati had a successful knee surgery on Monday. As a result, he has been ruled out for about four months while he recovers. The injury blow is yet another setback for the Catalan giants, who have been struggling to get their La Liga campaign on the right track this season

According to a statement published on the club's official website, The 18-year-old wonder kid was operated on by Dr. Ramon Cugat under the supervision of the club's medical team. The surgery comes after the player suffered an injury to the internal meniscus of his left knee against Real Betis at the Camp Nou last Saturday.

The Spain international was only able to play through the first half of the match, and was described as "very active." He was substituted during half-time, but the rest of the team was able to pick up the slack and manufactured a convincing 5-2 win.

Fati has played 10 games for Barcelona this season, with 7 of those in La Liga and the other 3 in the UEFA Champions League. He scored five goals and provided two assists over a total of 596 minutes played. His absence will surely be felt, after having made such valuable contributions to the club this season.

Fati is clearly being groomed as one of the building blocks of FC Barcelona's future. Over the summer, the team let go of veterans like Luis Suarez, and even almost lost Lionel Messi. In the upcoming January transfer window, several players are also being pegged to go out on sale. The club will be hoping that he will return to full fitness soon, so as not to derail any of Ronald Koeman's plans for his lineup.

It is still unclear if Messi will decide to stay with the club beyond the 2020-21 season, and Koeman needs to prepare for his departure if it happens. A major injury to one of their brightest young stars is not what they need at the moment.

Barcelona is currently sitting at eighth place in the La Liga table, a position they are not used to. However, they do have two games in hand against leaders Real Sociedad, after starting their domestic campaign late. They will be hoping to break into the top five once they catch up to the number of matches played.