Roll up, roll up, it’s the big Barcelona sales.
With the Catalan club looking to spend big this summer, they obviously need to offset that with several departures.
Thursday’s edition of Marca goes through the potential exits, and one of those is Samuel Umtiti.
Fate hasn’t been kind to the French defender over the past year, at least with his club. The Catalan media made it very clear Barcelona weren’t happy with the way Umtiti was going about getting a new contract.
They believed he was asking for too much money, and using his then €60m clause to almost threaten the club. He got his renewal, with a salary almost certainly lower than he was asking for, and managed to leave bad feeling in the Camp Nou corridors of power… and with some fans.
Then he spent months, much of the season, struggling with injury, and subsequently form, and now his exit is seen as a very real option.
With Barca hoping to sign Matthijs de Ligt, Umtiti would slip further down the pecking order than he already has, so cashing in becomes attractive.
Marca believe Barcelona are willing to sell for an offer around €40m, but there’s two problems.
Umtiti isn’t keen on leaving, and his knee problems could chase interest away. The 25 year old is currently fit, and there’s a good chance the knee issues are behind him, something which will be further helped by a summer off.
Mundo Deportivo also report Umtiti could be sold, and they say his price will ‘adjust to the realities of the current market’.
