Bissau (AFP)

Ansu Fati made a long trip, from land where he was playing as a child in Bissau to Camp Nou Barcelona: arrived in Spain in 2009, this son of African immigrant is, at only 16, a footballer at the beginning " hallucinating "in Liga.

"Ansu Fati, Barça player!": The suburban kids of his native West Africa, Bissau, choke with joy when they shout the name of their "hero" on the ocher land from the popular Sao Paulo district lined with tropical trees.

This is where Assumane Fati, born October 31, 2002, spent her first six years.

Where he played in socks or plastic sandals and dribbled more robust than him, tells AFP his young coach at the time, Malam Romisio.

"Before my team, it was Real Madrid, but I changed sides when I knew that Ansu had become a holder at Barça!", He admits, amazed that the young striker has been playing since the 25 August in the first division and is the author of two goals and a decisive pass in four games, under the watchful eye of the star Lionel Messi.

A pride for his native Guinea-Bissau, a small country in West Africa with sumptuous and preserved landscapes, but ranked among the poorest in the world and who has never distinguished himself in football.

In an alley house where Ansu grew up, his paternal uncle, Djibi Fati, pointed to him in the family photos, a little boy posing in traditional festive dress that was teased because "he loved buttered bread". "Every time he came back from football, he was asking for bread," he says in Creole.

- "Extrovert but speaking little" -

The father, Bori Fati, left Bissau to reach Portugal and Spain, in search of work.

In the Andalusian province of Seville (south), he went on a job, "working on the construction site of the high-speed train, harvesting olives, picking glasses in a nightclub ...", lists Amador Saavedra, who knew him in Herrera (6,000 inhabitants) without knowing then that he himself would one day lead his son Ansu.

"This story is beautiful," he says, at a time when the far right is castigating migrants, because the current communist mayor of the neighboring village of Marinaleda (2,600 inhabitants) financially helped the father to bring his family, then the socialist mayor of Herrera at that time found him a post in the municipal dump.

Just arrived in Herrera at the age of seven, Ansu discovered a new grass football field and made a sensation there, says his first Spanish coach, Jordi Figaroa: "The gap was abysmal with his friends, technically but also In chicks, few children are able to perform a combined action and he had everything.

At the Peloteros d'Herrera Football School, where thousands of local children are trained free of charge, the director José Luis Pérez recently reviewed Ansu and assures that "he does not have a big head".

He describes him as a boy "very spontaneous and very happy", "extrovert but speaking little".

- "A player who invents football" -

In 2010, Ansu distinguished himself in Sevilla FC before being recruited in 2012 by FC Barcelona - like his big brother Braima - integrating the famous training center of "Masia", where he still lives.

"Ansu was among the youngest ever admitted to the Masia", at 10, but "his brother was attentive" to him, relieves his first coach in Barcelona, ​​Marc Serra. He was "the type of player who invented football," he says, "one of the most talented boys ever to arrive at Masia since Messi".

After one of the first tournaments in which he participated, the child returned alone by train to Seville and sent a message to his coach, saying that he "very much regretted having played badly and that it would not happen again", reports Mr. Serra, who concludes: "At ten, he was already mature and demanding of himself".

The following is known: At the end of August, Ansu Fati became the youngest player to score in the Liga for Barça, then the youngest to play in the Champions League with the Catalan jersey.

Even if he has Biso-Guinean nationality, he could in the future choose to play for Spain. The coach of Spain, Robert Moreno, also has an eye on him and acknowledged that he had "started in a hallucinating way" while inviting everyone to "patience" ...

And the Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde describes "a balanced boy", "at ease", wishing "that he gets to know himself, to know the first division, that he sees that it is difficult and assimilates the workload, stress. "

At the end of August, Bori Fati told radio Onda Cero: "We, we are hardworking, modest". "I say every day to Ansu: + this is your job: when you have the ball, you put yourself in front of the goal, you do not look elsewhere, you shoot +".

© 2019 AFP