This article is part of Football FanCast's Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC's microscope.

Barcelona struggled but still managed to overcome Celta Vigo at the Camp Nou last weekend with some Lionel Messi magic. But one player that didn't really have the best of games was their now 17-year-old prodigy, Ansu Fati.

Snapshot

On the face of it and looking purely at the scoreline, Barcelona definitely dominated their visitors at the weekend as they surged to a 4-1 victory.

But that doesn't really tell the whole story and Messi's set-piece mastery was surely needed to secure the spoils of war.

Celta Vigo were brave and played well but they couldn't cope with the little Argentine's magic that was on display.

Watch Spanish Football Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

Unfortunately for Ernesto Valverde, however, his decision to slot the young Fati into the starting line-up backfired and the 17-year-old had to be substituted off at half-time.

In came Ousmane Dembele and immediately made an impact. This begs the question: is Fati ready for such a big step-up?

A crucial decision

A lot has already been said about Fati and Barcelona's decision to slot him right into the senior team without moving through the ranks properly.

Of course, his sudden emergence couldn't really be ignored but ever since the first couple of games in which the now 17-year-old demonstrated all of his skill and quality, he went missing - both from the team and the scoresheet altogether.

So far, we've seen him in a total of 10 games across all competitions but he only managed to tally 388 minutes in the process.

That could indicate that Valverde doesn't really seem to think Fati is ready to be a starter just yet, which brings the initial decision to slot him right into the senior team under question as well.

Without regular game time his performances are sure to dip which, interestingly enough, already happened against Celta Vigo.

The youngster was not really sharp or game-ready as he tallied no shots throughout the game, no successful dribbles and lost the ball ten times before being subbed off for Dembele.

He also maintained just 50% passing accuracy with only five passes to his name and was clearly not involved in the proceedings that much.

According to WhoScored, he was the worst-rated player of all the players on the team with 6.15 and while it might seem harsh to criticise a teenage kid, the fact remains that he doesn't seem ready for first-team action.

Maybe Valverde should use him as a super-sub or just send him to Barcelona B where he can get some experience and necessary minutes before he steps up to the big league once again.

Either way, that feels like a crucial decision the coach will have to make and one that may very well impact the young prodigy's future.