Liverpool have been handed a major boost in their pursuit of Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti, as Don Balon claims that the French defender sees the possibility of a move to the Premier League after Barcelona’s humiliating Champions League exit.
The La Liga club were sent packing from the competition despite having a 4-1 lead over AS Roma after the first-leg of the quarter-final. The Serie A club came back superbly in the second-leg, defeating Ernesto Valverde’s men 3-0 and winning on the away goals rule.
While Don Balon has linked us as one of the interested parties for Umtiti’s signature, the player has not signed a new contract extension with the La Liga leaders and has a release clause of €60million.
The Frenchman only joined Barcelona from Lyon last season but has been one of their more consistent defenders. Umtiti is only 24 years old but has already amassed close to 250 first-team appearances for Lyon and Barcelona combined.
Umtiti certainly would be a great addition to the Liverpool side even though we have improved defensively since the arrival of Virgil van Dijk.
The Dutch defender has formed a decent partnership with Dejan Lovren and the pair helped the Reds keep a clean sheet in the 3-0 home win over Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The duo was also great in keeping the Manchester City attack quiet in our Champions League quarter-final tie and only conceded two goals over the two legs.
Signing Umtiti would add a lot of competition in the Liverpool defence and would also provide Jurgen Klopp with options to tinker with.
It will be interesting to see how this news goes. Any club that gets him will have made an excellent signing as Umtiti is a top quality defender.
