Terry Gibson is wondering whether a club like West Ham United would be willing to offer Barcelona’s forgotten man Samuel Umtiti a fresh start in the Premier League, while speaking on El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast.
While the Kings of Catalonia have managed to trim six first-team players from Ronald Koeman’s bloated squad this summer, those departures feel like little more than a proverbial drop in the ocean.
With Barca over £1 billion in debt, selling Carles Alena to Getafe or letting Konrad de la Fuenta go to Marseille is unlikely to stop the Camp Nou ceiling from caving in any time soon.
The new La Liga season is now just over a fortnight away and the five-time European champions are still hampered with a whole host of overpaid, underperforming players, including Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann, Miralem Pjanic and a 2018 World Cup winner who has missed 88 games through injury since joining Barcelona from Lyon.
Could Samuel Umtiti be on his way to the Premier League?
The seldom-seen Umtiti earns £200,000-a-week.
While Barcelona are willing to let the £24 million centre-half leave for absolutely nothing, finding someone willing to take over his eye-watering wages is proving to be easier said than done (Goal).
“No one in La Liga can get anywhere near (Umtiti’s wages). It would have to be one of the big clubs in France but PSG are not going to do it. Are the top five or six clubs in the Premier League going to take that gamble? They probably don’t need to,” said Gibson, a former Manchester United and Wimbledon forward who now specialises in all-things La Liga.
“You’re looking at the clubs who qualified for Europe; West Ham, for instance. Would Umtiti go to West Ham for half or two-thirds of the salary he is earning at Barcelona?
“And, if you’re a West Ham, would you think ‘we can get a player who won the World Cup three years ago, who was absolutely fantastic’? Check his injuries, his ambition, his hunger, check his motivation to continue playing football…
“He’s become error-prone, he doesn’t look as quick as he used to. Is that down to him losing the hunger or lacking confidence?”
West Ham are in the market for a new centre-half following the departure of Fabian Balbuena. In this day and age, however, the expensive, injury-stricken Umtiti feels like a risk that just isn’t worth taking.
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