One of the things we like most about covering stories from across Europe is when two countries have two different versions of the same rumour, which is exactly what’s happening with the Samuel Umtiti to Manchester United saga.
On Monday, Sport started panicking, claiming the France international was edging closer ‘every day’ to Old Trafford following a private José Mourinho phone call, who offered him a €9m/year contract post tax.
This story continued on Tuesday, and AS even joined the party with their own story, explaining the 23-year-old had ‘threatened to leave’ the club.
Well, Le Parisien in France have a completely different version of the story, revealing Umtiti wants to stay in Barcelona, instead of moving to Manchester, as he’s perfectly happy there.
His plan would be to stay in Catalonia ‘in the long run’, where he dreams of, one day, wearing the captain’s armband at Nou Camp.
However, in order to do this, he will need to renew his current deal beyond 2021, and perhaps get rid of that pesky €60m release clause that is at the centre of all these stories.
Close to his French teammates, but also to the other members of the squad, it basically all comes down to whether Barcelona are prepared to give him the money a player of his status at the club is due.
If they don’t, well, that’s when others come knocking.
