Newcastle United are now chasing a move for Barcelona centre back Samuel Umtiti as they desperately pursue defensive options.
The Sun claim that Newcastle are interested in signing Umtiti as Barcelona look to finally offload him.
Umtiti earns a staggering £220,000-a-week at Barcelona and they desperately want him off their books.
Newcastle will have money to spend after their takeover, but those wages are still outrageous.
Salary Sport claim Allan Saint-Maximin is Newcastle’s highest earner on £93,000-a-week, with Umtiti costing more than twice that amount.
Add in an alleged £17million fee – which seems huge for a player Barcelona were considering releasing Umtiti – and this looks like a gamble.
Umtiti has also suffered various problems at Barcelona with muscle injuries and knee problems meaning he has barely played in recent years.
In fact, since winning the 2018 World Cup with France, Umtiti has only managed 41 league games for Barcelona.
Yes, on his day, Umtiti is a quality defender. Sadly, those days have been few and far between in recent years.
Now 28, Umtiti isn’t the player he was. When you factor in age, injury history, lack of recent football and enormous wages, this is the kind of deal Newcastle should be avoiding.
Beyond name value, there isn’t much reason for Newcastle to be chasing Umtiti.
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