Juventus consider signing Barcelona defender in January

Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti has garnered the interest of Juventus

Barcelona defender, Samuel Umtiti has aroused the interest of Italian giants, Juventus, according to Mundo Deportivo. The center-back who has been struggling with a knee injury and surgeries since 2018, is finally looking to make his proper comeback to the club. The French player could however find himself in a new country should the Spanish giants accept Juventus’ offer as they are linked with Manchester City’s Eric Garcia and they need to raise funds in order to sign him.

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Umtiti was at one time one of the best center-backs in the world. He was starting for Barcelona, playing in the national team, and even won the FIFA World Cup 2018. It seemed like things would only get better for the defender. However, he was actually playing the world cup when putting extreme pressure on his knees which ended up injuring his body. He underwent operations and recovery programs before he was tried out at Camp Nou again but he was unable to attain his previous form and worst of all, he became injured again.

He is yet to make a proper return to football but it seems like his second recovery is going well and he even played a practice match with Barcelona’s B squad on Wednesday. Although his progress seems promising, the Catalans have already lost faith in the player and they will be looking to sell him off in January in order to finance other transfers, the priority being Garcia’s transfer.

Barcelona are in a shortage of center-backs after losing Gerard Pique for the rest of the season. It seems like keeping the 27-year-old would be the better decision but Ronald Koeman is hell-bent on bringing 19-year-old Garcia to the club. Thus he would probably want to take up Juventus’s offer should they bid on the player.

Juventus, on the other hand, are trying to replace the aging Giorgio Chiellini who suffered an injury on Tuesday’s training. The 36-year-old is pushing towards retirement and this could actually be his last season before he hangs up the boots. Due to the current economic situation in Italy, even a club like Juventus does not want to spend outrageous amounts on a new center-back and they are willing to gamble on Umtiti.

Should Barcelona off-load Umtiti in favor of Garcia?