Sensational transfer news come from Italy. No, it does not regard Cristiano Ronaldo, Nicolo Zaniolo or Rafael Leao – but about Samuel Umtiti. According to reports from Sky Sports Italia, Serie A new boys Lecce are willing to take the Frenchman on a season-long loan from Barcelona!He was a World Cup winner four years ago. And in the past 12 months, he was reduced to just about the least desirable player in the world. Injury prone and on insane wages, Barcelona have been trying to get rid of him for over a year. Earlier this year, he failed a medical at Stade Rennais and returned to his usual role of making life difficult for Barcelona’s accountants.##NAJAVA_MECA_6580355##Lecce’s sporting director Pantaleo Corvino is arranging the final details of the operation that would see the former Lyon centre-back join the red-yellows. The injury-plagued defender is even expected very soon in the region of Puglia, in the far south of Italy, to complete his signing. He remains under contract at Camp Nou until 2026, but will at least have one year of playing football – hopefully.The media does not, however, mention any medical examination already carried out or to be made soon. An essential element to take into account since it is the physique of the player who has often slowed down his courtiers. Very regularly injured since the end of 2018, in particular, due to knee problems, Umtiti has not played regularly for four years. He has only played 14 La Liga games over the last two seasons.🚨🚨🎖| Serie A club Lecce are CLOSE to reaching an agreement with Barça for the loan of Samuel Umtiti. [@DiMarzio] #fcblive pic.twitter.com/P5o8F6r9hh— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) August 20, 2022 Lecce have returned to Serie A after a challenging decade in which they’ve even fallen into the third tier. They won the Serie C championship in 2018, then finished 2nd in Serie B a year later and returned to the top tier – only to go down less than a year later. However, they were crowned champions of Serie B in May and want to remain in the top division a little longer this time. Besides, it’s not that a world champion arrives to Stadio Via del Mare.SERIE A – MATCHDAY 2Saturday 19.30: (1.75) Udinese (3.70) Salernitana (5.40)19.30: (3.10) Torino (3.35) Lazio (2.45)21.45: (1.82) Sassuolo (3.60) Lecce (4.40)21.45: (1.20) Inter (8.00) Spezia (14.0)Sunday 19.30: (4.00) Empoli (3.60) Fiorentina (2.00)19.30: (1.37) Napoli (5.10) Monza (7.75)21.45: (2.95) Atalanta (3.40) Milan (2.55)21.45: (2.25) Bologna (3.40) Verona (3.45)Monday 19.30: (1.25) Roma (6.25) Cremonese (11.0)21.45: (6.00) Sampdoria (3.80) Juventus (1.60)***odds are subject to change
