Barcelona to sell a key defender

Samuel Umtiti is likely to leave Barcelona this summer, despite the speculations about his future with the Catalans.

Barcelona are keen to sell him due to the countless injuries he had in the recent years.

Umtiti struggled with many injuries from the past 18 months and since he has been absent from the club Clement Lenglet has been a regular starter for the Catalans.

The 24-year-old Frenchman has been partnering with Gerard Pique at the heart of the defence and the duo has been very good.

However, according to Marca there is no chance that Umtiti leaves this summer as they stated couple of reasons why.

The first reason is Umtiti's commitment to the Spanish giants, as the Frenchman has spoken about his love for Barcelona several times in the past and it is unlikely that he will change his stance irrespective of the interest from elsewhere.

Secondly, under Quique Setien the defender has more gametime and the fact that the manager chose him over Lenglet showed that he have faith in him.

Adding to this, Barcelona are currently in the hunt for a new striker or central midfielder, so they are not looking to sign new defender for now.

However, as Barcelona are in the hunt for Lautaro Martinez they need a financial boost to make the deal happen as the Argentinian has a release clause in his contract wich is €93 million.

Umtiti made only nine appearances as a starter for Barcelona this season as five of those are since Setien replaced Ernesto Valverde as the manager in mid-January.

The Frenchman also got a calf injury when the team returned to training, but the clubs believes that he will be ready to return to action when LaLiga resumes, which is scheduled for June 8.