Football: Great addition to his new club, 2018 world champion can’t hold back his tears

Samuel Umtiti’s ordeal is finally over. Finally partially. The French defender found a way out of FC Barcelona. The 2018 world champion has been looking for a new club that is no longer part of Blaugrana’s plans since the start of the transfer window. And it was Lecce who tried to restart the old Lyonnais.

The tricolor international arrived in the southern Italian city on the evening of Thursday 25 August, returning to Serie A this season. When he got off the plane, he was welcomed like a hero and mentioned his name, typhosis, 28-year-old could not hold back his tears. A feeling partly explained by the anticipated end of the Barça adventure.

For several months, the native of Yaoundé had been living a nightmare in Catalonia. Umtiti, the great architect of the French team’s success in Russia around the world, suffered a massive left knee injury a few weeks later, keeping him off the field for long weeks. The defender probably put too much pressure on this part of his body that lacked the meniscus during the World Cup and with his club. This was followed by spells in the infirmary, spells on the bench or in the stands, and long months of alternation between matches here and there. He only attended one meeting last season, 90 minutes total. His feelings are therefore understandable.

Samuel Umtiti, who, like his friends Alexandre Lacazette and Corentin Tolisso, was announced to have played for a period in Lyon, has finally arrived in Lecce to help the transalpine club stay in Serie A. Hoping that he will eventually recover from the injury.

Thibaut Falconnat

New Lecce player Samuel Umtiti greeted by a real crowd in Italy
He moved, the world champion couldn’t hold back his tears pic.twitter.com/PCWgqcAdeB

— beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) 26 August 2022