Barcelona gets their hands on one of Europe’s best defender from the help of Jorge Mendes, as Samuel Umtiti has handed in his transfer request.
This season Barcelona has used Clement Lenglet and Gerard Pique as their two main centre back pairs, for the past few seasons under Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde it was mostly Samuel Umtiti and Gerard Pique that were the two main centre backs at the club. However, times have changed for the France international.
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The defender has had a brief conversation with his representative and the board of Barcelona, the player has expressed his gratitude for all the opportunities he has received as a player to put on the Blaugrana jersey and defend the Barca shield, however, the French man considers that his time at the Camp Nou has now come to an end.
Rather than leaving on a sour note, the French defender prefers to leave his legacy behind at Barca with integrity unlike Neymar in 2017. Samuel Umtiti has asked the board to put him on the transfer list for the coming season, although Quique Setien has shown confidence in the player, it is now officially too late to change his mind.
The Catalan board has accepted the humble request by Samuel Umtiti and the board is open to negotiating with clubs that are willing to pay 60 million euros or more for the defender, according to Don Balon.
Barcelona would be needing a backup for Samuel Umtiti and preferably a player that can match his playing style or quality. Jorge Mendes has offered the Catalan club his client from Benfica who shares a similar style of play like Samuel Umtiti. The player that Jorge Mendes has put forward to the Catalan board is the 23-year-old Portuguese, Ruben Dias.
The Portuguese defender leads Benfica as the captain from the backline and his speed, acceleration and physical built makes difficult for forwards to get past him, apart from his physical attributes, Ruben Dias is composed on the ball and has the ability to play the ball out from the back, a commendable feature that Barca has lacked in a defender for quite some time.
If Bartomeu does consider signing the Portuguese they would have to pay 80 million euros to trigger the release clause set by Benfica, and if Barcelona does manage to sell Samuel Umtiti for 60 million euros, an additional of 20 million euros would not be an issue at all.
It all depends if the board considers Jorge Mendes option and Barca must act quickly before Chelsea or Manchester United get their hands on the Portuguese.