Barcelona could save up to €14m in wages due to defender’s latest injury

Barcelona had been trying to get Samuel Umtiti off the books back in the summer last year, while attempts were made to get rid of him in January as well. Reports even indicated that a move to Arsenal was well in the works before his latest injury – a fractured foot – put paid to the Catalan giants’ hopes of offloading him.

While the club might have been unable to sell him, Umtiti did end up helping the team by agreeing to a downward contract renewal, which allowed the Blaugrana to register new signing Ferran Torres successfully.

And, according to SPORT, the new contract that Umtiti signed could now end up helping the Catalan giants save as much as €14 million in wages.

As per the terms of the new deal that the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner signed, a major part of Umtiti’s wages are linked with the number of appearances he makes. Much of his contract is based on variable payments rather than a fixed component.

When agreeing to such a deal, the Frenchman was said to be confident that he will feature regularly as he believed he deserved to be in Xavi Hernandez’s starting XI.

The Frenchman has featured just once so far in the 2021/22 campaign. And, his latest injury setback has meant that the 28-year-old will be sidelined at least until mid-April, which would likely see him miss a minimum of 15 matches or even more. As a result of this, Barcelona could now end up saving a sum of up to €14 million in wages.

While it is never a nice sight to see a player struggle with injuries, given Barça’s financial situation, they will see this as somewhat of a silver lining.