Barcelona are ‘alarmed’ over the extent of Samuel Umtiti’s knee injury amid fears he has torn ligaments, say Diario AS.
Reports earlier on Friday suggested the Frenchman would not feature against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday due to sustaining an injury in training.
Emerging reports now say the injury ‘has much more severity’ than originally thought and the former Olympique Lyonnais defender could be out of action for several months.
Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet are now set to start against Athletic Club, with the latter serving his one-game suspension ban as he missed out Wednesday’s loss at Leganes.
Thomas Vermaelen adds further cover in the position, but Umtiti’s injury will come as a significant blow as he is regarded as one of the league’s star defenders.
