Barcelona coach Victor Valdes has revealed he recently had to buy wonderkid Ansu Fati a new pair of boots.

The 16-year-old became the club’s youngest debutant since 1941 when he came on in the 5-2 win over Real Betis as a 78th-minute substitute. 

But the teenager caused alarm among the coaching staff when he complained of persistent pain in his feet during a youth tournament in Russia. 

The club struggled to identify the source of his pain before Valdes requested to inspect Fati’s boots and came to a damning conclusion.

“I told him to bring me his boots and they were a complete disaster, they were causing him pain,” Valdes said at a press conference on Monday.

“Nobody had thought it could be the boots, but I did. We went to buy some new ones.”

The winger was handed his big opportunity on Sunday in the absence of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and Valdes gave him a glowing appraisal.