Samuel Umtiti is a step away from joining Lecce

Samuel Umtiti is a step away from a move to Lecce on loan for the duration of the season that has just begun. The Italian club have approached Barcelona with a view to bringing in the French defender on a temporary basis. The talks are practically closed, although it has not been easy because the Italian club did not want to take on the player's salary.

The problem, as always with the player, is the reticence about his performance due to the problems he has had with his knee, which have prevented Umtiti from finding a destination in the last few months of the market.

According to reports from Italy, Lecce are only willing to pay according to the number of games he plays. Barcelona would continue to pay one hundred percent of the wages and the money would be deducted according to the number of games he plays. The two clubs already have an agreement in principle in this regard.

This would mean that Barcelona would not reduce their wage bill at all. Although Umtiti's contract is no longer very high, as he renewed his contract with the Catalan club in order to defer the payment of his wage bill over the next few years, in the limits within which Barcelona are moving in terms of their wage bill to sign Jules Kounde, any help is a good thing.