The "magician" entrusted with Ansu Fati's recovery

Ansu Fati made a fleeting appearance in Barcelona for the pre-season medical assessments. He was joined by the rest of his team mates, besides those who have participated in the European Championships or the Copa América. The young forward, however, is not going to hang around in the Catalan capital. Instead, he will resume his recovery in Madrid from his fourth, and latest, operation, which he underwent in early May. Ansu Fati will be working with the physiotherapist Joaquín Juan Sandá during his recovery, who is renowned for working with top-class footballers and basketball players. His clients include Pau Gasol and several Real Madrid players.

Sandá is a specialist in injury prevention and recovery, and has created his own multi-disciplinary method in the field of professional sports medicine and healthcare. He is known as the "physio of the stars" and is regarded as one of the best in his field. He has previously worked with Raúl González, Jorge Garbajosa and Pau Gasol, who he met prior to the 2004 Athens Olympics: a year in which Gasol suffered from various injuries that he was struggling to shake before Sandá helped him to fully recover.

With a degree in Physical Education and Physiotherapy and specialising in the treatment of high performance athletes, Joaquín Juan Sandá is the president of M2RLAB: a Spanish biomedicine company that offers solutions for the regeneration of muscle, skin and other tissues.

Ansu Fati has placed himself in Sandá's magic hands in an attempt to get fit for the start of the season.