FC Barcelona have officially confirmed the signing of defender Samuel Umtiti from Olympique Lyon for a fee of €25m. The 22-year-old centre-back, who can also play on the left, agreed to a five-year contract that will keep him at the club till 2021.
The club announced the deal on their official website and also revealed that his buyout clause would be set at €60m. The player has not yet completed the formalities but the club mentioned that Umtiti would arrive in Barcelona on Thursday to complete a medical after which he would sign his contract.
Although the Frenchman is only 22, very young by a defender’s standards, he has already made 170 appearances for Lyon in all competitions over the past five seasons. He is a Lyon product having joined the academy in 2001.
Umtiti also made his debut for France this year at the recently concluded UEFA Euro 2016. Didier Deschamps had picked the youngster after Barcelona’s Jeremy Mathieu was ruled with an injury.
After Adil Rami was suspended for the quarter-final following a second yellow card, Umtiti partnered Laurent Koscielny in defence and played his first game where France beat Iceland 5-2. He helped Les Bleus keep a clean sheet in the semi-final as Germany lost 2-0 but was unable to do anything about Eder’s goal that saw Portugal win the final 1-0.
He will be presented to the Barcelona fans on Friday afternoon (1:30 PM local time) followed by a photo session. He would then be available for a press conference soon after that.
Although the deal was announced today, Barcelona had confirmed an agreement with Lon on 30 June.
More to follow
