Samuel Umtiti, the Barcelona defender, has been shockingly linked with a move to their rivals Real Madrid. According to reports, Madrid are willing to trigger his £53m buyout clause to bring the defender at Santiago Bernabeu.
Umtiti has become a regular starter as he has formed a good pairing with Gerard Pique. Valverde’s men are most likely to secure the La Liga title soon and Umtiti has played a good part in that. Barcelona have been pretty much unchallenged in the La Liga as they have been unbeaten throughout the season and will look to finish the season strongly after the Champions League debacle.
Barcelona were astonishingly knocked out of the Champions league by the underdogs AS Roma. Roma had to overcome a three-goal deficit and they managed to go through on away goals. That result came out of nowhere as Barcelona were expected to see off the Italian side.
One of the major reasons for the loss was poor defending and miscommunication between Umtiti and Pique. Dzeko absolutely dominated them as both of them found it tough to keep the Bosnian pinned. Umtiti has been inconsistent and certainly, there is a lot of room for improvement in his game.
Amidst all this, he has been linked to Real Madrid and that apparently hasn’t gone down well Barcelona president Josep María Bartomeu as he has been left infuriated. The report also said that Barcelona are currently in negotiations with the defender on signing a new contract. This can also be a big blow for Manchester United as according to reports they were also interested in bringing the Barcelona defender.
It will be interesting to see whether a move like this happens as Real Madrid and Barcelona are arch rivals. A move like this will certainly not go down well the Catalonia fans as Umtiti is still young and has a huge potential to become a top-rated defender. He might have had few off games but this season has been a huge learning curve for him and staying at Barcelona will be the right move for his future. But if the Galacticos trigger his buyout clause before he signs a new contract he can turn out for Real Madrid for next season. A move like that seems highly unlikely but one cannot completely write it off as there have been players before who have played for both the Spanish giants.
