Barca want a defender on loan

Barcelona are growing more concerned about that state of Samuel Umtiti’s knee, and it’s looking more likely by the day the French international will have to have surgery in order for the problem to be solved, Sport have reported.

In the absence of Umtiti, the Catalan club has only Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet and Thomas Vermaelen to rely on, with the Belgian also very injury-prone and freshly returned from a spell on the sidelines. A meeting was held, and manager Ernesto Valverde expressed his view that a solution in the form of a new signing needs to be found, and the signing committee agreed.

The La Liga title holders will be looking to sign a young player in January, preferably on a six-month loan with an option to buy. But when the summer comes, their primary target remains Ajax’s Matthijs de Ligt. They are likely to try and sign Andreas Christensen from Chelsea, but the London club aren’t keen on loaning him out at the moment.