Barcelona star plotting comeback after being 'imprisoned' by club for four years
Samuel Umtiti has hit out at Barcelona, claiming he felt “imprisoned” by the club during his time there.
Umtiti is currently on loan from Barca at Italian side Lecce, where he has made 23 appearances in Serie A this season. The 29-year-old defender has been trying to regain his confidence following some difficult years in Catalonia.
He joined Barca from Lyon for €25million (£20.6m) back in 2016 and went on to make 133 appearances for the club, helping to win two LaLiga titles and three Copa del Reys. But after years of solid contributions he suffered a serious knee injury and then found himself unwanted by the Spanish giants.
Umtiti still has three years left on his contract with Barca, having renewed last season at a lower rate in order to help the club comply with financial regulations. There appears to be very little chance of him seeing through those years though, given his frustration with how the club has treated him.
“It felt like four years of being imprisoned at Barcelona, not just on a sporting level, but in my everyday life too,” Umtiti told Canal+.
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“I was really in a bad way, I preferred to stay out of everyone’s way. At the start I felt good and performed at a high level, but then I started to feel some diffidence towards me and realised then that nobody believed in me anymore.”
Samuel Umtiti has spent the season on loan with Lecce (Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images)Barcelona tried to terminate Umtiti’s contract last summer, but the former France international resisted and instead insisted on a loan deal. A move back to Lyon was mooted, but the French side had doubts over his fitness, prompting Lecce to secure his services.
For now, Umtiti is concentrating on keeping Lecce in Serie A – they are in 16th place, three points above the relegation zone with two games left to play. But once the campaign is over he will consider his options, with Lyon top of the list.
“I’m still under contract with Barcelona until 2026, but it’s true that I really need to feel respected, appreciated and I feel good in Italy,” he said. “I love the language, the food, the style.
“A return to Lyon to play with Alexandre Lacazette? Lately we were talking about it. I would really like to play with him again before the end of my career. It’s too early to talk about it, but yes for me Lecce is a springboard. Everyone thought I was dead, but I knew I was coming here to bounce back and go higher again.
“I’m doing very well, I’m happy after these four difficult years, these four difficult years. In the end, I managed to find a smile and the desire to play football again. I knew that if I was given that confidence back, I was going to be able to express myself as I did a few years back.”
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