France defender Samuel Umtiti has joined Spanish champions Barcelona from Lyon.PHOTO/AFP
BARCELONA, Spain, July 12 – Barcelona have completed the signing of France defender Samuel Umtiti from Lyon in a deal worth 25 million euros ($27.7 million), the Spanish champions announced on Tuesday.
Umtiti, 22, will pen a five-year contract with Barcelona which includes a buy-out clause of 60 million euros, the club said in a statement.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirmed last month that the two clubs had reached an agreement over the transfer while Umtiti was on international duty for France at Euro 2016.
The Cameroon-born centre-back made his France debut in the quarter-finals against Iceland and retained his place in the team for the next two matches, including Sunday’s 1-0 defeat by Portugal in the final.
Umtiti, who can also play at left-back, will be officially presented as a Barcelona player on Friday after undergoing a medical at the Camp Nou.
He will compete for playing time with Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano and France team-mate Jeremy Mathieu, whose injury prompted Didier Deschamps to call up Umtiti for the European Championship.
Umtiti, an under-20 World Cup winner in 2013, becomes Barca’s second signing of the summer after the Catalan giants exercised a buy-back clause to re-sign midfielder Denis Suarez from Villarreal last week.
