FC Barcelona have always had their fair share of complications with loan moves, but it seems that the tides might just be turning. In the most recent of loan deals that La Blaugrana have been able to conduct, there are seeing positive returns from both financial and sporting perspectives.
French defender Samuel Umtiti, currently on a loan himself at Serie A side Lecce, continues to demonstrate quality and consistency, unlike anything he has managed over his last few seasons at FC Barcelona.
The 29-year-old central defender is recording impressive statistics with the Italian side during the ongoing 2022/2023 season, and these numbers surely give FC Barcelona hope.
As per SPORT, the former FIFA World Cup winner has thus far managed to play more than 1700 minutes this season, starting in 19 of the last 20 games that his side has played. Under the tutelage of Marco Baroni, the French defender has reached a level of consistency last shown by him during the 2017/2018 season.
Moreover, from a technical standpoint, the defender has also retained an impressive 86.5% passing success rate throughout the season. Defensively, he remains noteworthy as well, accumulating an average of 16 duels won per game, a percentage of 63.3% being his success rate whenever he goes in for such duels.
The player also has a substantial success rate in terms of ball recoveries, an average of 15.5 per game. He also maintains an 85.1% success rate for defensive stops when players attempt to dribble him, which is substantially better than the league average for the same metric being 78.5%.
While these statistics are indeed impressive, FC Barcelona are still not looking to keep the player for the long run, and nor do they consider him an essential piece for Xavi’s squad for the upcoming season.
Instead, the club hopes that these numbers manage to impress other potential suitors so that they can offload the defender for a substantial amount given his strong performances during the season.
