Barcelona grow frustrated as Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres refuse to leave

Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres are giving Barcelona a sizeable headache as the unwanted duo have no intention of departing Spotify Camp Nou anytime soon.

Despite the Blaugrana’s genuine wish to promptly offload both unsettled forwards so they can comply with FFP and gain permission to register new signings, their prayers have fallen on the attackers’ deaf ears.

According to AS, Fati and Torres have informed the club of their ambition to stay, even though Barcelona have made it abundantly clear they’re looking to remove them both from their payroll.

President Joan Laporta grasps the significance of raising funds from player sales after barely convincing La Liga to let the newly-crowned champions do their business as usual this summer.

In this regard, he’s working around the clock to get rid of the piling deadwood, with numerous fringe first-team stars already being put up for sale to allow Xavi Hernandez to land new players.

But while last summer’s signing Franck Kessie has nothing against leaving Barcelona after just one season to get the club out of substantial debt, Fati and Torres don’t share the Ivorian’s view.

Under contract until 2027, the former is reluctant to listen to offers, having already turned down an approach from Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this summer.

Fati’s preference is to stay and fight for his first-team prospects at Barcelona despite tumbling down the pecking order following Xavi’s arrival at the helm.

However, the Catalans are pushing their homegrown star to entertain opportunities to move on, knowing his departure would fill their coffers with much-needed cash.

Torres’ case is slightly different.

He put pen to paper on a multi-year contract after joining the club from Manchester City in January 2022, with Barcelona yet to pay off his €60 million transfer fee.

Therefore, the 23-year-old’s departure wouldn’t boost the club’s balance sheet, although it would free up the ballooning wage bill, which is still a win for the Blaugrana given the circumstances.

But as of now, the Spaniards have been unable to persuade their outcasts to pursue careers elsewhere.