Star Defender Reveals He Rejected Offers From Chelsea And Arsenal For A Move To Barcelona
Jan 24, 2017 at 12:11 AM
The Premier League is one of the most competitive and thus one of the most attractive leagues in the world at the moment.
There are a number of star player playing for teams all around the country and it does not come as a surprise that more and more teams want to join the Premier League every transfer window.
But one player who has now revealed that he rejected offers from top Premier League clubs is Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti.
The 23-year old French defender came into the limelight with his commanding performances in the last couple of years of his 4-season stay at French outfit Lyon.
He played more than130 league games in France and earned himself a national call up with the French national team and is now one of the most exciting players in his position in Europe.
He was in great demand at the start of the season with Lyon ready to let him go and there were a number of clubs who were ready to make a move for him.
In the Premier League, London duo Arsenal and Chelsea were desperate for his signature and Umtiti today revealed that he rejected offers from both clubs to complete his move to the Camp Nou.
Antonio Conte, the new manager at the Bridge, was desperate for defensive additions and was linked with a long list of names. The 23-year old was high up that list but he was unable to lure him out of France early in the transfer window.
He had to later settle for David Luiz, who is turning out to be one of the best players in the league this season.
Arsene Wenger lost Per Mertesacker to a 6-month injury even before the season started and he was forced to look into the transfer market for quality additions.
Umtiti was always on his radar but Arsenal could not act fast enough and ended up losing him to Barcelona. However, they got a bargain in Shkodran Mustafi who is now the first choice at the club.
Speaking to Canal+ a Spanish news outfit, Umtiti revealed that it was always a dream for him to play for a club like Barcelona and that he had his mind set on a move to the club long ago.
“It was always a dream for me to play here [at Barca],” Umtiti said.
“I must be the happiest man in the world. There was another club other than Barca, there were English clubs too. I could have earned a lot more money, but I wasn’t interested. For me, it was Barcelona and not another team,” he added.
Barcelona will be ecstatic that they managed to steal him away at just £21m in the summer. Do you think Umtiti would have been better off in the Premier League?