A club does need to respect any contract that they’ve given to a player, but they can also make life very uncomfortable for them if they don’t agree to leave.
Samuel Umtiti’s time at Barcelona hasn’t worked out for many reasons – poor form, character concerns, injuries, multiple changes in manager and more, but a report from Sport has indicated that his time is now up.
They’ve essentially suggested that he has two options this summer – he can either leave, and if he doesn’t like that…. well then he can leave, there is no middle ground and Barca have no intention of keeping him on.
The problem is actually trying to find someone to take him, but it’s thought that there is interest from two clubs that would be deemed as acceptable destinations, and the French defender is open to the transfer after seeing how little faith the manager has in him.
This approach means Barca can’t expect to recoup any kind of transfer fee, but if they can offload his wage then that would be a start.