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Samuel Umtiti left FC Barcelona last summer, joining Lecce on a season-long loan. After two years of misery at Camp Nou, the Frenchman found a new lease on life in Italy, as he played regularly for the Serie A minnows and did not have any major injury issues.
Now that his loan spell is over, Umtiti has no desire to return to Barça while the La Liga champions also are uninterested in having him back at the club and would prefer to offload him permanently this summer.
As such, SPORT is reporting that Olympique Lyon are interested in signing Umtiti from Barcelona in the upcoming transfer window.
However, the Ligue 1 outfit have a condition that they wish to be met before making a move for their former defender. Lyon will not act on their interest in Umtiti until the finalise the sale of one of their prized assets in the form of Castello Lukeba.
Les Gones are hoping to make around €20 million from Lukeba’s sale amid interest from the Premier League. Once they offload him, the French club plan to move for Umtiti.
The report further adds that Barcelona will be demanding a transfer fee of around €4 million minimum for Umtiti from Lyon. In addition, the Blaugrana will also seek a high percentage of any future sale.
There has been some contact between the two clubs but the negotiations have not advanced as of yet. Umtiti, for his part, wishes to wait for Lyon as he is keen on a return to his former club.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup winner is also attracting interest from Inter Milan and AS Roma in Italy, but they have not made any moves for him either.
What now remains to be seen is whether Lyon are willing to meet Barcelona’s valuation to sign Umtiti this summer.