West Ham United will not pursue a move for Barcelona’s Ansu Fati this month, despite rumours linking the Barcelona man with a return to England.

The Hammers are in desperate need of a forward this winter with Niclas Fullkrug and Michail Antonio expected to be out for at least the majority of the rest of the season. With just a week left of the window, Graham Potter has to find a solution as soon as possible.

However, Ansu Fati isn’t that man. To start with, the Spaniard isn’t a striker. The 22-year-old’s best position is on the left wing which made the rumours of him moving to West Ham look unlikely anyway.

The main problem with Fati is his injuries. His talent is undeniable; 38 goal contributions in 120 appearances for Barcelona proves that. However, his promising early career has been completely ruined by injuries.

In November 2020, Fati tore his meniscus and was ruled out for over 300 days, missing 64 matches for club and country during that time. Since recovering from that injury in September 2021, Fati has become severely injury-prone. He has missed a further 64 matches for Spain, Barcelona, and Brighton with many different types of injuries.

Brighton took a risk bringing Fati to the club last season, and despite a couple of promising signs, it didn’t pay off. Unsurprisingly, he missed almost half of the season with a calf injury. He played 27 matches for the Seagulls which makes it look like he played quite a lot, however, he only started seven of those matches which highlights his lack of fitness or form.

If Potter could get Fati fit and firing, this would be a no-brainer. However, the chance of that happening is almost zero, especially with West Ham’s luck with signing players. It is better that we opt for signing an out-and-out striker without injury issues like Andre Silva.

A move for the Portuguese International striker now looks very likely to happen with talks progressing with RB Leipzig over the last couple of days.