Barcelona star robustly bats away transfer links to Arsenal, Man Utd

Arsenal and Manchester United will have to look elsewhere after one of their centre back targets, Samuel Umtiti, announced his intention to stay at Barcelona.

There had been reported interest from the Gunners in Umtiti with various reports mentioning bids of around €60m to €80m being prepared for the defender.

Umtiti was thought to be available after losing his place alongside Gerard Pique to summer signing Clement Lenglet.

However, in a recent interview, it would appear that the 25-year-old sees himself at the Camp Nou next season and not at Arsenal or Manchester United who were also reportedly interested.

He told Hypebeast: “The quality of life is great. For me, it’s the best place to play and live.

“The place, the mentality of the people, my team, the players that I meet daily, frankly I could not have dreamt of better.

“Every day I feel happy to live my passion, and what’s more to do that here in Barcelona.

“The adaptation went very well, I was very well received. They were very cool with me, even though I did not speak too much Spanish we managed to understand each other and everyone helped me a lot.”

He made just 13 starts in La Liga last season, but feels he is ready to kick on into 2019/20, saying: “I’m better.

“It’s true that it was a difficult season due to the injury but I knew it was going to happen, that there had to be a transition because I had a lot of difficulties during the World Cup.

Umtiti only signed a new five-year deal last summer which included a buyout-clause of €500m.

He is closing in on 100 games for the Spanish champions since joining from Lyon in 2016 for a fee of €25m. Umtiti was also part of the France squad that won the 2018 World Cup in Russia last summer. He scored the winning goal in the semi-final win over Belgium.

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