Barcelona ready to terminate contract of want-away defender - Reports

According to reports, Barcelona are ready to terminate the contract of French center-back Samuel Umtiti after running out of patience with the defender. The Spanish giants have been trying to get him off their wage bill for quite some time but that has proved to be a difficult task.

With some of the deadwood players reluctant to quit, the Blaugrana have apparently decided to take a more severe route to offload them.

Barça’s patience with Umtiti is running very thin. They have given him a week to accept one of the proposals he has from Ligue 1 before firing the central defender. [sport]

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 17, 2021

Multiple sources have confirmed that a couple of offers from Ligue 1 landed on the table for Umtiti this summer but the defender isn't willing to leave the Catalans. The Blaugrana have now given him until the end of the week to pick his next destination or he will have his contract terminated.

The report also mentions that Barcelona are prepared to unilaterally terminate the defender's contract even though they are aware it might leave them open to legal action from him. It remains to be seen how this saga will end. The center-back is living on borrowed time in Catalonia despite his wish to continue at Camp Nou.

Samuel Umtiti has returned to Barcelona to recover from his foot injury. [md] pic.twitter.com/O7lq87ccG3

— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) September 8, 2019

Samuel Umtiti joined Barcelona from Olympic Lyon in a deal worth €25 million in the summer of 2016. The Frenchman made a good start to life at the club but the last two seasons have proved to be catastrophic for him due to a recurring injury. Umtiti has made a total of 132 appearances in the Blaugrana shirt, scoring twice and setting up another.

Samuel Umtiti could be on his way out of the Catalan capital in the coming days.

Barcelona doing a 'Matheus Fernandes' with Samuel Umtiti

Should Samuel Umtiti face a contract termination this summer, he would become the second player in this sort of situation with Barcelona in the last two months. The Blaugrana recently put an end to their association with Brazilian midfielder Matheus Fernandes in a similar fashion.

The 23-year-old got no chance to prove himself with the senior team before he was forced out of Barcelona. Fernandes has returned to his former club Palmeiras where he will ply his trade this season.