With Barcelona planning a big clean-up of their squad this summer, one of their transfer listed players is okay with the prospect of heading to Real Madrid.
Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti was crowned World Champion with France less than one year ago, but things have gone drastically downward for the former Lyon man. Umtiti suffered a knee injury at the start of the 2018/19 campaign that has kept him out for nearly the whole season and in the process, Clement Lenglet has overtaken him as Gerard Pique’s partner at defence.
The Frenchman is absolutely unhappy with the way Ernesto Valverde has treated him since his return from injury and the club is also planning to get rid of him. While Umtiti does not want to leave, he could have little bargaining power regarding his future in the Camp Nou in case Barcelona themselves have made an irreversible decision over him.
As a matter of fact, Samuel Umtiti leaving the Blaugrana would be the best move from his point of view because following Matthijs de Ligt’s arrival he would only fall further down in the pecking order. That being said, Fox Sports reports that the outcast central defender would be okay with the prospect of heading to Barca’s arch rivals- Real Madrid.
Los Blancos ended a horrible season with 18 defeats across all competitions, but that looks likely to change in the next campaign once newer players are signed. Recruiting a central defender is on the agenda in the Madrid offices despite Eder Militao’s signing and more so because Raphael Varane’s future at the club is under the cosh.
Real Madrid have the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Milan Skriniar and Kalidou Koulibaly on their radar, but while the Ajax Amsterdam is set to move to Barcelona, the other two are going to be massively overpriced. At this juncture, Florentino Perez has no intention of spending over 40 million euros on a central defender at most.