Major transfer breakthrough for Barca with Umtiti
Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has become a recent target for the club's Cules, who accuse him of being one of the reasons Lionel Messi left the club.
France World Cup-winner Umtiti, who has only featured once this season for the Blaugrana, is contracted to the club until 2023.
Last summer, Barcelona offered Umtiti the chance to leave for free if he could find a new club.
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But he then reportedly rejected five offers to leave the club, meaning he stayed on the wage bill. This was cited as one of the reasons Messi left on a free transfer to PSG.
But he has now agreed to move out on loan in January, according to the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.
Umtiti signed for Barcelona from Lyon in 2016 and has played 133 times for the Catalan outfit.
He is one of the highest earners at Barca, and the club are desperate to offload him as soon as they can.
Where might Umtiti go?
The player has recently been linked with a move to Newcastle, as they look to fight off relegation from the Premier League.
But Umtiti is understood to be holding out for a Champions League or Europa League club, with France looking to defend their World Cup at the end of the year.
At the start of December, Umtiti was confronted by Barca fans as he drove in the city, as they laughed and shouted at him, with one jumping on his car bonnet.
Turkish giants Fenerbahce, one of the clubs who tried to sign him in the summer, have made a fresh approach. An unnamed French side are also hopeful of ending his Barca exile.
If Barcelona succeed in getting Umtiti and fellow castaway Philippe Coutinho off the salary structure, they hope to use the freed-up funds to help new head coach Xavi build a squad that can take them back to the top of European football.
