Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has opened the door to a dramatic return to Olympique Lyonnais later in his career.
The Cameroon-born defender joined the Catalan giants from the French club in a €25m deal in the summer of 2016.
Umtiti made his first start of the season in the recent 3-0 win at Eibar and he has only featured in 21 matches for the Catalan giants since helping France to the World Cup in 2018.
Prior to suffering a troublesome knee injury, he had grown into a defensive star at the Camp Nou by making 83 first-team appearances across the previous two campaigns.
“Going back to Lyon is a possibility, as a player or as a Coach,” Umtiti is cited as saying by Diario Sport.
France international Umtiti has been struggling with a persistent knee injury for the past year, with the club alternating between treatments in order to solve the issue.
After the issued was flagged up by club doctors back in November 2018, he underwent a period of rehabilitation in Qatar, before undergoing minor surgery back in Spain.
The Blaugrana are said to have been more persistent for the defender to get full surgery on the issue, while the player instead opted to go for more conservative treatments.
