Samuel Umtiti has completed an exit from Barcelona this Thursday, with the French centre-back joining Italian side Lecce.
Several teams were interested in signing him this summer, including Girona, Rennes and Olympiacos, but he has ultimately decided to join the Serie A team.
It is a loan move, with both clubs sharing his salary, although the Italian team don’t have a purchase option as part of it.
“Barcelona and Lecce of Serie A have reached an agreement on the loan of defender Samuel Umtiti until June 30, 2023,” a club statement said.
“Lecce won Italy’s Serie B last season and are now back playing at the highest level of Italian football.”
Xavi wasn’t going to use Umtiti
Umtiti has known for several months that Xavi wasn’t counting on him for the 2022/23 campaign, so much so that he didn’t even travel on the pre-season tour of the USA.
The player has been willing to help the club and he has a contract that runs until 2026 at the Camp Nou, after agreeing to defer part of his salary in order to help the club out with their financial situation.
Umtiti joined Barcelona in 2016 and played in 133 matches in total, starting off very well but then suffering a series of injuries.
Now, at the age of 28, he’ll look to resurrect his career in Serie A.
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