Home visit by club official sees West Ham transfer chase hit a bump

The stories about Samuel Umtiti’s impending move to the Premier League have calmed down over the past week or so.

Whether that is because the Euros are just around the corner or because other clubs are preferred, we don’t know, but news from around Europe suggests the 22-year-old defender won’t be coming to the Premier League.

Touted as ‘leading the race’ for Umtiti by Sky Sports last week, West Ham are seemingly set to miss out to his signing to Barcelona, who, according to Le10 Sport, have met up with his brother/agent.

The French website state that three weeks ago, one of Barcelona’s board members, rumoured to be their sporting director Robert Fernandez, actually visited the player at his home to talk with the player and his brother about a move to Spain.

The discussion was mainly about what the Spanish giants plan to do with him over the next few years, but broad contract details were also mentioned.

Frankly, this seems a bit of a far-fetched story, especially considering no fee between the two clubs is yet agreed (at least publicly), and a sporting director visiting a player’s home without Lyon’s consent would be, well, tapping up.