Name: Samuel Umtiti
Club: Lyon
Nationality: French
Position: Defender
Who is he?
Born in Cameroon, Samuel Umtiti joined the academy of Olympique Lyon aged 8 in 2001.
After a decade in the Lyon youth ranks, he made his club debut in Coupe de France game against Lyon Duchère in January 2012. Six days later he would make his Ligue 1 bow, playing the full 90 minutes away to Montpellier.
By the end of that debut season, he would make 12 league appearances. Last season, he truly established himself as a regular starter in the back four, alternating between centre-half and left-back.
Achievements
The 20-year-old also became a key player during Lyon’s Europa League run. Some of you may have seen Lyon’s two-legged knockout round tie against Tottenham in February and Umtiti scored a fine goal in the first leg (watch below), although the French side were eliminated by a single goal.
Umtiti tasted glory this summer for the France U20s. He was part of the team which won the 2013 U20 World Cup, although he missed the final through suspension.
He is currently a member of the France U21s which means he has played for every France youth category since the U17s.
Attributes
A strong and intelligent centre-half, Umtiti also has the versatility to do a job as a defensive-minded left full-back.
At 1m80 he is not the tallest centre-back but he is still competitive in the air.
However his main weakness is his ability on the ball has often been criticised. For a centre-back, his pass completion rate of 80 per cent last season was extremely poor. But he has improved in that regard this season with his rate 5 per cent higher.
I watched Lyon’s 4 – 0 defeat at PSG last week and like his team-mates Umtiti was fairly unimpressive, giving away a penalty.
Potential
A couple of Premier League clubs and AC Milan have been sniffing around according to speculation.
But he would benefit more from developing at Lyon rather than joining a bigger club too soon, especially as he is still working on aspects of his game.
Indeed he has benefited from Lyon’s change in policy. The club have shifted to using the products of their talented academy such as Clement Grenier, Maxime Gonalons and Alexandre Lacazette.
