RUMOUR MILL - Samuel Umtiti : Moving from Barcelona to Manchester?
- Arpan Bhattacharjee
- Apr 15, 2018
- 1 min read
It's been 7 years of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones at the club and United fans are tired of the calamity duo at the back. In this new Mourinho era, United are looking for new defensive measures as they set their sights on 24-yr-old Barcelona centreback Samuel Umtiti. Manchester United potentially have two good centrebacks. Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo. United want a stable centreback partnership to emulate the Ferdinand-Vidic era and see Umtiti as a potential partner to Eric Bailly.
Umtiti is locked in contract talks with Barcelona over a new deal less than two years after joining the club.
The France defender has a £52million release clause in his current contract and is understood to want to treble his wages.
But amid the contract negotiations, Umtiti’s form has dipped and the 24-year-old produced a poor performance as Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League to Roma in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Latest rumors suggest that Barcelona won't match match United's offer of 9 million pounds/year and would let the France international leave at the end of this season.
With Barcelona buying Yerry Mina and still getting liked to centrebacks like RB Leipzig centreback Dayot Upamecano, Toby Alderweireld of Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla star Clement Lenglet.
Transfer Rating: 5/10
If there is smoke,there must be fire somewhere. With Umtiti's attitude changing, his performances dipping and Barcelona getting linked to different centrebacks, there must be contract hustlings in boardrooms at Barcelona. Nothing is decided for now but the transfer makes sense from all parties. In coming days, we'll know more about future of the Catalan star.
Comments