Barcelona and Samuel Umtiti have parted ways after 7 years, with the two parties mutually terminating his contract.
Umtiti arrived in 2016 and quickly became a starting central defender for Barcelona alongside Gerard Pique. One of the best in the world at the time, he won the World Cup with France in 2018.
Over those years, Umtiti won 8 trophies with Barcelona in just 133 games, including 2 Ligas and 3 Copas del Rey. However a bad knee problem caused him to suffer major issues in late 2018, and he never recovered his place in the Barcelona team.
Spending last season on loan at Lecce, proving he could still play to a good level, Umtiti is expected to return to Olympique Lyon this summer, from where he made his first €25m move to the Catalan capital.
As per MD, Barcelona still owed Umtiti €20m over the remaining three years of his deal, after renewing him until 2026 in order spread out the financial hit of his deal. He also took a 10% wage cut.
Nobody will know just how much money Barcelona have agreed to give to Umtiti in order to end their relationship. Being on the final day of the financial year, the Blaugrana were no doubt keen to ensure that Umtiti’s cost was included in this year’s budgets, as they are unlikely to fit into their salary limit for next season anyway.
