Umtiti laughs off Arsenal and PSG rumors

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The Frenchman never considering leaving the Camp Nou

Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has been talking about summer speculation that saw him linked with Arsenal and PSG and finds the whole thing pretty amusing.

The centre-back had a difficult campaign last season. He missed large chunks due to injury and was then benched by Clement Lenglet.

However, Umtiti says he never considered leaving the Camp Nou and was surprised to see rumors of a move to Arsenal emerge.

“Honestly, I don’t know where this rumour with Arsenal came from,” he said. “Overnight, I received messages from my friends ‘ah, so you are joining Arsenal?’ I’m not, I’m sorry but I’m staying at Barcelona.

“Contacts with Arsenal? To be honest, I don’t know if they had conversations with my agent, I just told him that I didn’t care what was happening this summer and that it wasn’t even necessary to talk to me about it. It was useless, I was going to have the same answer.

Source | Canal Football Club

The rumors did not end there though. Umtiti was one of several players mentioned as being potentially used as part of a deal to bring Neymar back from PSG.

Yet Umtiti branded those reports “crazy” and added those rumors “made me laugh, I don’t even have an answer to where it comes from.”

Umtiti will be hoping he can force his way back into the first team at Barcelona this season, but he faces a fight to get his place back.

Lenglet has started Barcelona’s three La Liga games alongside Gerard Pique, while Umtiti has picked up a foot injury while on France duty and has returned to his club for treatment.

Source: barcablaugranes.com