City preparing Umtiti swoop

Manchester City are preparing to swoop in to sign Samuel Umtiti from Barcelona in January, according to L’Equipe.

The French defender has had a torrid time with injuries since his arrival to Camp Nou in 2016, and though he is now fully fit, he has lost his place in the starting XI completely as Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet now form head coach Ernesto Valverde’s preferred centre-back partnership. Umtiti has so far started just three La Liga games this season, he came on off the bench once as well, and he started once in the Champions League too.

On the other hand, the Premier League champions have come to regret not replacing former captain Vincent Kompany who left the club in the summer, as Aymeric Laporte suffered a heavy injury blow early in the season and won’t be back for a while yet. John Stones has also had injury problems and was forcibly replaced in their defeat in the Manchester Derby on Saturday. Veteran midfielder Fernandinho has been forced to step into the breach, and the only true central defender at Pep Guardiola’s disposal at the moment is Nicolas Otamendi.