Juve ready to hijack Umtiti from Barca
Samuel Umtiti‘s future speculation in Barcelona continues to raise questions. The latest news says if the mainstay defender of the French national team is ready to leave the Barcelona squad to save his career. As we all know, the injury problem makes Umtiti rarely appear as a core Barcelona player.
Playing for Barcelona, actually Umtiti’s move was very good by entering as a duo Gerard Pique at the heart of Barca’s defense. A consistent appearance makes Barcelona provide a contract gap.
However, the sweet story did not last long, and it all started at the start of the 2018-2019 season with injuries. Umtiti was forced to pull over and had to give up his place in the main squad to Clement Lenglet, who also performed nicely with Pique.
Lenglet was actually devoted to filling the void of Umtiti who was injured, but all that changed because the player also displayed extraordinary developments. He appears much better than Umtiti. The Lenget duet with Gerard Pique became one of the reasons for the Barça’s defense this season.
This situation made Ernesto Valverde called already no longer want to overhaul the Barca defense arrangement. He had already believed in the Pique-Lenglet duet, and this certainty gave rise to Umtiti’s reasons for leaving the Camp Nou.
The more reaction will arise when Barcelona is claimed to be ready to bring in a new defender from Ajax Amsterdam, Matthijs de Ligt. Barcelona’s interest in young Ajax players was very visible when they successfully brought in Frenkie de Jong. This opportunity clearly invited many European elite clubs who were interested in accommodating Umtiti, one of which was Manchester United. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s farm team is in the middle of needing a ready-made central defender.
Apart from injury problems, it should be a special concern for Manchester United if you want to get Umtiti. Because Juventus are also interested in accommodating Umtiti if it matches the price. Reportedly, Juve’s sporting director, Fabio Paratici has included the name Umtiti as his transfer target in the transfer market next season.
Juve thinks that getting Umtiti is a good opportunity, where they plan to replace Andrea Barzagli who has decided to retire at the end of the season, in other words Juve needs additional energy at the heart of the defense, and Umtiti’s figure is considered suitable with experience and quality.