BARCELONA – Barcelona are very disappointed with Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembélé after both footballers committed acts of indiscipline in recent days, different sources confirmed to ESPN.
According to ESPN, Umtiti was more than half an hour late to training last Friday. It was the first session of the Barça players after the confinement and the French central defender also had to leave it prematurely as, a few minutes after jumping onto the pitch, he suffered a soleus injury to his right leg, which will force him to be close to three weeks in the infirmary.
In addition, the same source acknowledged to ESPN that the coaching staff was quite surprised with the state of form in which Umtiti had returned to training since it was very far from that of most of his teammates.
For his part, another source revealed to ESPN that Dembélé did not show up for an appointment he had scheduled for Tuesday to have an MRI and see how his injury has evolved in recent weeks.
The French winger broke the femoral biceps tendon in his right leg on February 4 and has not played since the one game since the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund (3-1) on November 27.
Dembélé underwent the Covid-19 tests last Monday at his home and is originally scheduled to continue his recovery in the Ciutat Esportiva.
These two new acts of indiscipline by the French players have not sat well with the Barcelona management and from the club they admit to ESPN that their future at the Camp Nou is increasingly uncertain.
ESPN already announced weeks ago that Barca only considers Lionel Messi, Marc ter Stegen and Frenkie de Jong untouchable in the face of a market in which they expect to carry out several exchange operations.
In this sense, Barcelona does not hide that Umtiti and Dembélé have the transferable cartel either to enter any of these exchanges or to be sold. However, in the club they are not optimistic about the exits of the two French internationals because today they admit that they have not received any offer for them.
Umtiti went from being one of the most coveted center-backs on the market to being a regular substitute in Barcelona due to the constant physical problems that have dragged him since he suffered an injury to the cartilage of his left knee in late September 2018. Since then could not have regularity. Barca then advised him to undergo surgery up to three times to solve the problem, but the defense always opted for a conservative treatment that did not give him the expected result.
The Catalan club awarded Umtiti in 2018 with a renewal until 2023 after a great season at the Camp Nou took place after his arrival from Lyon. Then, the card was raised considerably and that also represents today another obstacle to find a way out. Meanwhile, Dembélé arrived in 2017 for 105 million fixed plus 40 in variables to replace Neymar and since then he has spent more time in the infirmary than on the field of play. The attacker left gestures of his speed and quality in some isolated matches, but his journey at Barça has been mainly marked by injuries and acts of indiscipline such as Tuesday.
At Barça they had a lot of faith in both players, but they are already throwing in the towel and will not be able to hit them when they leave if they can part with them this summer.
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