Barcelona reach agreement to sign Lyon defender Samuel Umtiti

FC Barcelona have closed the deal to sign Olympique Lyonnais defender Samuel Umtiti and the Frenchman will sign a five-year contract at the Catalan club that would see him at Camp Nou until the summer of 2021.

According to Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Barça have reached an agreement to sign the 22-year old this summer. The report state that representatives from Barcelona negotiated with the leadership in Lyon yesterday and final negotiations are still ongoing with the deal set to be closed by the end of this week.

The deal for the defender is not expected to exceed the €25 million mark but inclusion of variables might see it reach close to €30 million but the club have reached an agreement with the player who wouldn't go into details just yet.

Barcelona are looking for a Central defender to add to their ranks this summer to complement Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique at the back and the chase for a defender heated up after Marc Bartra joined Borussia Dortmund.

Barça's priority is to keep Javier Mascherano in the club as long as possible but it looks a hard negotiation to pull. The club have been chasing Samuel Umtiti for a long time and he is the preferred choice of Barca's technical director Robert Fernandez.

Umtiti stated last week that he would love to join FC Barcelona which provided a hint about the transfer. “Barcelona is a football club that all players want to play for,” he said. The player will be the prime defender to join Barça who are also interested in signing Las Palmas youngster Mauricio Lemos

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