Samuel Umtiti will finalize the move from Barcelona to US Lecce early next week, Gianluca Di Marzio said.
The “Pride of Catalonia” has been trying to get rid of the multiple representative of France over the last several months. So far, it has suffered a complete fiasco in this field, mainly due to the reluctance of the player himself to leave the club.
The 28-year-old player didn’t take long to be out of the Camp Nou starting line-up, but in the end he softened his stance so much that he was fully open to finding a new employer in the ongoing transfer window.
At first it seemed that Samuel Umtiti would land in his home country in the colors of Stade Rennais. Defensor, however, failed the obligatory medical tests, which began to raise serious concerns that no club would be tempted to take the defender.
Ultimately, FC Barcelona received support in this field from … the new Serie A, US Lecce.
Gianluca Di Marzio announced that the Italian team reached a full agreement and negotiated very favorable terms for the loan of the Frenchman, whose full salary, including bonuses, will be covered by the “Pride of Catalonia” – 20 million euros.
The team from Camp Nou can count on a bonus depending on the number of appearances recorded by the 28-year-old on Italian fields.
The mentioned journalist emphasizes that the entire operation should be finalized at the beginning of the next week and adds that Umtiti was very keen on completing the move to the Apennine Peninsula for two reasons.
The first relates to the player’s willingness to rebuild, which is why he comes to Stadio Via del Mare with a personal physiotherapist. It will heal the muscles around the player’s left knee, which has caused him a lot of problems in recent years.
The second, on the other hand, is much more forward-looking, because the defender wants to become a coach after his career. For this reason, he decided that watching Italian football and tactics would do him good.
Multiple representative of the “Tri-color” went to Camp Nou from Olympique Lyonnais for 25 million euros in July 2016.
Since then, he has managed to appear in 133 matches, in which he recorded two hits and an assist.