Fati must improve his concentration, Barcelona boss Koeman says

Rising Barcelona star Ansu Fati has been told to improve his concentration by head coach Ronald Koeman.

The attacker has been hailed as a potential heir to six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi and will turn 18 on Saturday. The Spain international has hit the ground running in the professional game, scoring five goals and creating three more in just seven appearances this season.

Koeman, though, says the teenager is far from the finished product and has told him to tidy up some aspects of his play.

“Yesterday we were talking about the issue of concentration for a while. In that sense he has to improve because sometimes his turnovers are due to concentration and not quality,” the coach said when asked in a press conference how the young star can improve his already impressive game.

“In that sense, he has to improve and he has our help every day. He is a great talent and we have to help him improve things in his progress. You have to be prepared every day to improve.”

Ansu will hope to be involved in Saturday’s encounter in Alaves as Barcelona attempt to improve a slow start to the Primera Division season, which sees them lie 12th in the standings, albeit with a couple of matches in hand against many of their rivals.

Barcelona have confirmed that they will be without regular goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegan and defender Samuel Umiti for the clash, with the pair having only completed a couple of sessions with the squad after overcoming injury problems.

Koeman said: “Marc is fine, but he needs a couple more training sessions.

“Today Samuel has completed part of the training with the group, but he still needs some more to be able to return.”

Meanwhile, he explained his reasoning behind leaving Riqui Puig behind, despite the fact he could name up to 23 players.

“It is a technical decision, normally we have taken 23 players, but for me it is too much, the best are 20 or 21 players,” the former Netherlands defender said.

“He will stay in Barcelona and have some intense training in case I need him another day.”

Barcelona are coming off a 2-0 win over Juventus in the Champions League.