Samuel Umtiti not planning on Barcelona departure
President Joan Laporta knows he has a big task if his goal is to make Barcelona a competitive side both in LaLiga and Champions League. Included in that task is a near overhaul of the squad.
Laporta is already planning on meeting with their players and representatives to discuss the future of their clients and potential wage reductions. One of those players is French center-back Samuel Umtiti.
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However, his case may prove to be a struggle for the board.
Plenty of changes planned ahead for Barcelona come next season.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Umtiti is not contemplating leaving the Catalan side and believes he’s finally gotten over the injuries that have plagued him the last couple of seasons.
Umtiti has a contract until 2023 but the club doesn’t seem to count on him as they tried to offload him all of last season.
He is one of the players, if he stays, that they will ask to lower his wages. One of the reasons no other team was interested in even a loan was because of those wages.
Lyon was interested during the winter transfer window but Umtiti was not entirely convinced.
He spent much less time away injured but did not enter into Ronald Koeman‘s plans. He played sparingly and looked a step off when he did. He played even less due to the emergence of Ronald Araujo and Oscar Mingueza.
Umtiti no longer feels pain in his knee and believes he’s in the best shape of his life. Certainly to the level he was before the 2018 World Cup.
While Barcelona’s intention does seem to be to move him on, they’ve not received offers for Umtiti. With his intention on staying, it’s going to be a hard sell.
But with the impending arrival of Eric Garcia, Umtiti may be forced to leave if he wants any playing time. At this point, he’s last in the defender depth chart. A lot is also going to depend on the future of Koeman.
Next. Barcelona look into swap deal between Antoine Griezmann and Joao Felix. dark
Laporta is going to have his work cut out for him to convince Umtiti to lower his wages or accept a move. But the same could be said for nearly all the players Laporta considers no longer having the level to succeed at Barcelona.