The Blaugrana club already closed its exit to Rennes
The Barcelona entity has been looking for a destination for three summers
Barça has received with disappointment the withdrawal of Rennes in its interest in incorporating Samuel Umtiti. The negotiations were so advanced that the French center-back had traveled to France to close the deal. Umtiti had even spoken with the coach of the red and black team, Bruno Genesio, but reluctance within the entity about his physical condition and the possibility of acquiring the services of Morato, Benfica’s promising Brazilian central defender, have ruined the operation .
Within the Blaugrana entity they already took Umtiti’s departure for sure and now the sports management will have to start the process of finding a destination for him again. The feeling is one of disappointment and frustration after two years of tug-of-war with the footballer.
This is the third summer that Barça has tried to get rid of an Umtiti who has not raised his head since the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The center-back played that tournament with knee problems and after becoming champion he did not want to go through the operating room. The result is that he has no longer reached his competitive level.
In summer 2020, Barça had very advanced negotiations with Romabut Umtiti flatly refused to abandon the Blaugrana discipline. A position that he has maintained in each and every one of the market windows until now. Manchester United, Inter, Arsenal, Napoli and, especially Olympique Lyon, Olympique Marseille and Rennes, have tested their incorporation. And the answer has always been the same.
The problem has always been in the renewal that his brother and representative, Yannik Umtiti, wrested from Barça before the World Cup in Russiaunder the threat of paying his 60 million termination clause to join José Mourinho’s Manchester United. With 16 million a year, Barça placed him on the second salary scale of the locker room, at the height of Iniesta or Luis Suárez. And of course, leaving Barça would have meant for Umtiti, ostensibly lowering those emoluments.
Behind the contract extension accepted by the footballer during the winter market to make it possible for Ferran Torres to sign up, Things have changed. Umtiti accepted a 10 percent reduction and divided the approximately 22.5 million he had left to collect over four years. In other words, the French central defender’s current file does not reach six ‘kilos’ per year.
The situation with Umtiti got to be so tense that Barça even considered the termination of his contract up to two times. The first, last summer. The second, during the last winter market, before the center-back agreed to adjust his salary to lower the locker room wage bill.
Even so, Fiorentina rejected his assignment for not being able to assume that figure. Rennes seemed to be willing to take it on. The rojinegros tested their incorporation for the third time and it seemed that it was going to be the charm. It has not been like that and Barça is beginning to despair, since of all the discards it has only been able to release Philippe Coutinho and Clément Lenglet, apart from the three players who finished their contract, Luuk de Jong, Adama Traoré and Dani Alves.
