Report: Everton make Umtiti enquiry with Barcelona looking to sell
Everton have reportedly enquired about a potential deal to sign Samuel Umtiti from Barcelona, with the Catalan club ready to let the Frenchman leave.
According to Spanish outlet Sport, Ronald Koeman’s side are actively trying to sell the former Lyon man, amid interest in England and Italy.
The report claims that Everton ‘have asked’ about the defender, while Juventus have also been credited with an interest.
Having recently recovered from a serious knee injury, Umtiti is reportedly open to a move away from the Camp Nou but wants to join an enticing sporting project.
Injuries must be a concern
There’s no doubting the quality that Umtiti once had, having joined Barcelona back in 2016 for nearly £25million. However, his stock has fallen drastically in recent years.
Back in only 2018, Umtiti had a market value of £68million and he is now valued at just £10.8million by Transfermarkt.
His time with the LaLiga giants has been marred through injuries and that has to be a serious red flag for the Toffees.
According to Transfermarkt, he has missed a whopping 83 games through injury during his time at Barcelona, which equates to a grand total of 493 days on the sidelines.
When taking a deeper look at those individual injuries, it must be noted that six of them were knee-related issues.
While Umtiti has been desperately unlucky at Barcelona, it would represent a huge risk for Everton to invest in a defender with such an injury record.
In other Everton news, Report: Everton in race to sign Reading youngster Michael Olise