Nico leaves Barcelona, and Umtiti and Braithwaite resist
Futbol Club Barcelona is finalizing its efforts to get rid of several of its players discarded for this season by its coach, Xavi Hernández, to alleviate its wage bill and be able to comply with the economic Fair Play against the League, for which it was able to give up without an option to Valencia to his youthful midfielder Nico González, although the negotiations with the Frenchman Samuel Umtiti and the Danish Martin Braithwaite continue to be tough.
Although the saving of money in this transfer of Nico González to Valencia is minimal for Barcelona, it will also allow the release of the number for the arrival of a possible signing. For the operation to be completed, the link between Nico’s representative, the Portuguese Jorge Mendes, both with the Barça president, Joan Laporta, and with the owner of Valencia, Peter Lim, was important.
For his part, the young midfielder understood that with the return of Miralem Pjanic plus the arrival of Franck Kessie and that everything indicates that Frenkie de Jong would not come out in this market, his chances of playing for Barcelona were very slim.
On Umtiti’s side, although the French central defense refuses to receive the release letter, it does accept that Barcelona pay part of his salary to the club he can join, but in the case of the Danish Barithwaite, things are more complicated because he wants a complete agreement and ends first with the termination of his contract, receiving the two years that remain.
Umtiti was able to go to Olympique de Lyon, but the pass fell through and now he has a chance in Turkish football or in Olimpiakos in Greece. In Barcelona they hope that some of the passes will be completed so as not to have to terminate him and pay him the entire record.