Barcelona are considering selling Samuel Umtiti to Manchester United this summer if it helped them sign their No 1 target, Matthijs de Ligt of Ajax.
The current La Liga leaders want the 19-year-old Holland international to be Gerard Pique’s long-term replacement, but Ajax want the same €85million for the player as Barcelona have just paid for Frenkie de Jong, along with wages and payments to De Ligt’s agent Mino Raiola.
If they are to beat Bayern Munich to the player’s signature they will have to sell, and Umtiti who has dropped below Clement Lenglet in the pecking order is one they would listen to offers for.
Sources close to Barcelona believe United will watch Umtiti on Monday night when he plays for France against Iceland.
The player himself has said he wants to stay at Barcelona. In a Telefoot interview recently when he was asked a series of questions and told to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, or ‘don’t know’ answer, he was asked will you still be at Barcelona next season and he answered ‘yes’.
He has also told international team-mate Antoine Griezmann he wants to see him at Barcelona next season, and sees himself continuing to play on the left of any future central defensive partnership alongside Pique or De Ligt, who also prefers to play on the right.
United’s biggest concern would be 25-year-old Umtiti’s injury problems. He has missed three months of this season with a cartilage problem in his left knee that he has elected not to have operated on.
Despite the fact that Lenglet has overtaken him in the Barcelona team, France coach Didier Deschamps still prefers Umtiti in his squad.
Sportsmail understands Barcelona players would be against the sale of a man who played a major role in the team winning the league last season.