{"id":1105547,"date":"2019-09-09T17:50:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T16:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1105547"},"modified":"2019-09-09T17:50:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T16:50:01","slug":"barcelona-umtiti-dismisses-arsenal-transfer-rumours","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/barcelona-umtiti-dismisses-arsenal-transfer-rumours\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona defender Umtiti dismisses “useless” Arsenal transfer rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has dismissed any contact between the Catalan giants and Arsenal over the summer as “useless”, insisting he always intended to stay put.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The France international was heavily linked with a switch to north London during the transfer window after falling behind compatriot Clement Lenglet in the Barcelona pecking order.<\/p>\n

Did Umtiti come close to joining Arsenal? Five things to know…<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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  • Umtiti managed just 15 appearances in all competitions for Barca in 2018\/19.<\/li>\n
  • As such, he fell behind Lenglet in the centre-back pecking order.<\/li>\n
  • The France international was linked with a move to Arsenal over the summer.<\/li>\n
  • But the Gunners ended up signing David Luiz from Chelsea.<\/li>\n
  • Umtiti says he never intended to leave Barca, shutting down the Arsenal rumours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7360490-squawka-talker-special-champions-league-2019-20-preview<\/p>\n

    But Umtiti has now claimed a move to Arsenal was never something he considered as his only thought was to remain with Barca, while the Gunners opted to sign David Luiz from Chelsea in the end.<\/p>\n

    \u201cHonestly, I don’t know where this rumour with Arsenal came from,\u201d\u00a0he told Canal Football Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOvernight, I received messages from my friends ‘ah, so\u00a0you are joining Arsenal?’ I’m not, I’m sorry but I’m staying at Barcelona.<\/p>\n

    \u201cContacts with Arsenal? To be honest, I don’t know if they had conversations with my agent, I just told him that I didn’t care what was happening this summer and that it wasn’t even necessary to talk to me about it.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt was useless, I was going to have the same answer.<\/p>\n

    \u201cMy dream as a child is to play for Barcelona. Last season was the most difficult of my career, especially in terms of injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n