Rennes set to abandon negotiations for Samuel Umtiti
According to Fabrizio Romano, Rennes are set to leave negotiations with Barcelona for Samuel Umtiti (28), after expressing their interest over the last week. The Breton club are said to be pursuing Benfica’s Morato (21) instead. At the end of June, Bruno Génésio’s club entered into discussions with the Spanish giants over the transfer of the French centre-back to the north-west of France, following the departure of Moroccan defender Nayef Aguerd, who joined West Ham. However, negotiations had stalled yesterday following doubts over the player’s physical state, which has plagued recent years of his career. Indeed, Umtiti made just a single La Liga appearance last season and, since joining Barcelona in 2016, he has been ruled out by injury or illness on 16 occasions and missed a total of 606 days as a result. Instead, Rennes are said to be pursuing another centre-back, the Brazilian Morato (21), who currently plays with Benfica. The younger defender is likely to be a safer option for the Breton side, who have made an official offer of €10m, as of yesterday. Romano reports however that Barcelona are still looking to sell the former Lyon and World Cup winning defender, following the departure of Clément Lenglet (27).
French giants set to pull out of negotiations for Barcelona centre-back
Fresh from sanctioning the sale of Clement Lenglet to Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona are hopeful of offloading their fringe players in the team in the coming weeks, including Samuel Umtiti. However, the Catalans have faced a massive setback in their quest to offload Umtiti, as his suitors Rennes have backed out from the pursuit, reports Fabrizio Romano. The Ligue 1 outfit were keen on securing the services of the Frenchman this summer, particularly due to their coach Bruno Genesio. The French tactician had coached Umtiti at Lyon and was increasingly keen on sealing a reunion at Rennes. Umtiti was likely identified as a direct replacement for Nayef Aguerd, who had joined West Ham on a big-money move earlier in the summer. However, lately, there were a few doubts internally from the Rennes camp over the club’s pursuit of the Barcelona centre-back. Although Genesio was keen on signing the Frenchman, the board was worried about the player’s questionable injury record at Camp Nou. As such, it appears Rennes have now backed out from the negotiations to sign Umtiti and are now prioritising a move for Morato from Benfica. The tall Brazilian centre-back has been identified as an ideal alternative for Umtiti, as he is younger and has shown no injury issues since his move to Europe last summer. Hence, a move to Rennes could be ruled out for Umtiti. Barcelona, though, are not giving up on their quest to offload the Frenchman and are even willing to provide him with the letter of freedom in order to eliminate the prospect of paying any transfer fee for the suitor. A lot could become clearer in the coming weeks, as Barcelona continue their preparations for the new season whilst sanctioning the sale of their unwanted stars.
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