Joan Laporta has achieved his ends. US Lecce, promoted this season in Serie A and current 19th in the Italian league after two days, has “concluded an agreement for the loan of defender Samuel Umtiti until June 30, 2023” with FC Barcelona, without a purchase option, the Catalan club announced on its website, Thursday August 25. The Italian formation specifies that the ex-Lyonnais, 28, under contract until 2026 with Barça, must pass his medical examination in the evening.
Disturbed by chronic poor form and repeated injuries, Umtiti is one of the players that FC Barcelona and its president Joan Laporta wanted to see leave before the end of the transfer window, in particular to be able to go under the salary cap and officially register the recruitment of Jules Koundé. .
After an almost white season (he only played one game) and a foot operation in January, Umtiti arrives in Italy with the aim of reviving. Trained in Lyon, the powerful French defender joined Barcelona in 2016. Despite a fragile knee, he shone during the 2018 World Cup, notably scoring the winning goal in the semi-final against Belgium (1-0), which had opened the doors to the final against Croatia (4-2) for the Blues.
But he has since chained injuries and played less and less (only 133 games in 6 years in Spain), falling back in the hierarchy of defenders in Barcelona. Last season, he only played one game, in December 2021. In January, he had surgery after breaking his foot in training. Just before this umpteenth stoppage, the Spanish club announced that it had extended the player’s contract until 2026. This agreement aimed in particular to spread his salary over a longer period, in order to allow the club to remain under the salary cap. .
#Welcome samuel #umtitihttps://t.co/bdo6lUoUCw pic.twitter.com/OVqLIJEOgr
— US Lecce (@OfficialUSLecce) August 25, 2022
Umtiti has not played with the Blues since June 2019 and a defeat in Turkey (0-2). In Lecce, he will try to reconnect with the competition in a club whose priority objective will be to try to stay in the elite. Serie B champion last season, the Puglia club (south-east of La Boot) is playing its 17th season in Serie A, two years after its last relegation in 2020.