Umtiti earns respect and congratulations from Xavi

Samuel Umtiti He seems to have taken the words of Xavi Hernandez straight away in his presentation on Tuesday to the Barcelona squad, “You are all starting from scratch”, and in just four days working with the new coach, he has already earned their respect and an amazing point of admiration.

and explain to ESPN Sports A source in the dressing room, where the good behavior of the French defender did not go unnoticed.

The player himself begins activation exercises more than half an hour before the start of the training sessions, while several of his teammates are still in the dressing room, and at the beginning of the session itself he is already at full power. This circumstance did not go unnoticed in the eyes of Xavi, who arrived at the club with some optimistic reports about Umtiti, and is expected to be able to include the entire team due to the stoppage of choices that led to the absence of nearly twenty. From the first team players, he won the respect and appreciation of the coach.

So much so that Xavi himself, on Thursday, did not hesitate to congratulate him personally in the dressing room in the presence of all his teammates, stimulating the player’s smile, convinced that he was in full position to go into his plans.

Despite the fact that he had no chance since the start of the season, was not called up in his first two official matches and remained on the bench for the next 14 (the last three with Serge Bargoin at the helm), the French footballer has been given an understanding of Xavi. His decision to earn the right to be taken into account for at least two months, until the winter market opens, before checking whether the effort is worth it.

Umtiti, spoke again over the past few days with the possibility of Benfica being interested in taking the place of the injured Lucas Verissimo That since Lisbon has calmed himself down, he maintains his intention to fulfill the contract that ties him to Barcelona until 2023 and is determined to show Xavi that his physical conditions are ideal for a defensive position.

With Pique recovering and unsure whether he will be in the derby against Espanyol, coach Araujo, Eric Garcia, Lenglet and Mengeza should be available for next Saturday’s match and, in principle, he will leave Umtiti in the last place he prefers. If his work is in the last days and what he can show in the next few days does not mean that, as Xavi said in his presentation, everyone started from scratch and the France international has not played an official match since May 22. In the past three seasons, he has made 59 appearances (36 starting and 31 full matches) out of the 158 disputed by Barcelona, ​​earning the right to one last chance on the pitch.