Ansu Fati has said that one player Manchester City let go last year is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The winger is currently spending the season on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion, who the Blues are facing off against tonight in the Premier League, after joining from Barcelona during the previous summer transfer window.
Now though, the 21-year-old has made a claim about one particular player who brought an end to a very successful spell at the Etihad Stadium last summer.
Fati says former City star is better than Alexander-Arnold
In a recent video shared on the Pro Direct Soccer TikTok channel where he had to blind rank 10 random past and present footballers, Fati placed Ilkay Gundogan in fifth place above Alexander-Arnold in sixth.
City signed the midfielder during the 2016 summer transfer window from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £20m, making him Pep Guardiola’s first signing for the Manchester club.
During his seven-year spell with the Blues, Gundogan made 304 appearances across all competitions in total, scoring 60 goals and delivering 38 assists.
In his final season at City, the 33-year-old captained the Citizens to their historic Treble before joining Barcelona as a free agent.
Ilkay Gundogan had a big impact at City
In terms of Alexander-Arnold, the right-back has made 306 senior appearances for Liverpool, scoring 19 goals and supplying 81 assists after emerging through their youth ranks.
Even though the Liverpool full-back has been heavily praised by the likes of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher for his individual ability and the impact he’s had on his side over the past few years, the fact that Fati views Gundogan as a better player than Alexander-Arnold possibly sees his longevity and what he achieved at City as being more meaningful.
Having been such an impactful player in City’s side, we feel that there will have been times since his departure where supporters of the Manchester club and perhaps the people working behind the scenes will have hoped that he had signed a new contract at the Etihad rather than move away.