Chelsea transfer boost with Barcelona struggling to sell Samuel Umtiti abroad and Premier League move looking likely
CHELSEA have been handed a transfer boost with Barcelona said to be struggling to sell Samuel Umtiti abroad and a Premier League move looking likely.
Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli are reportedly uninterested in the 26-year-old defender who has fallen down the pecking order at the Catalan giants.
Umtiti joined the Nou Camp club from Lyon in 2016 and since then has won the league-and-cup double twice in Spain.
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But now the Frenchman is nearing the Nou Camp exit door with Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet the preferred centre-back pairing of boss Quique Setien.
He has also suffered from a number of knee injuries, which haven’t helped his cause, leading to just seven appearances in the top flight.
The Catalan club have slapped a £26million price tag on the World Cup winner and are thought to be willing to sell him to raise some cash to spend on their other summer targets, having been hit hard financially by the coronavirus crisis.
But according to Calcio Mercato, the Spanish side is finding it difficult to flog the Frenchman in Serie A.
Barca were hoping to hash out a swap deal involving up to five players including Umtiti with Inter for their golden boy Lautaro Martinez – but Antonio Conte’s side are more interested in Verona defender Marash Kumbulla.
Setien was hoping to offer Umtiti as a sweetener for Juve’s Miralem Pjanic but the Bianconeri are said to be unconvinced on the centre-back.
Napoli pulled out of the race at the end of April as they could not afford Barca’s original asking price of £45m.
PSG may be tempted as they are understood to be keen on bringing in an influx of French players this summer.
The LaLiga giants were set to offer Thomas Tuchel a trio of top French talent including, Umtiti, Ousmane Dembele and Jean-Clair Todibo in exchange for Neymar.
The lack of interest in the World Cup winner will be music to the Blues’ ears, considering they have the leakiest defence out of the top seven teams in the Premier League.
Boss Frank Lampard is keen to recruit a new defender to help shore things up but the Frenchman may be a back-up option if they fail to land Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille.
Umtiti is thought to prefer a switch to Stamford Bridge out of the options in England.
Arsenal were interested in making a deal happen for Umtiti in the January window but opted to sign Pablo Mari on loan instead.
United have also been offered the chance to sign the Frenchman.
He would provide Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with another option at the back with Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly and Harry Maguire, as well as youngster Axel Tuanzebe.