Samuel Umtiti to leave Barcelona for Nice?

Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti could reportedly join Nice during the January transfer window.

The 27-year-old has recently returned to fitness following a series of knee problems, but he is down the pecking order at Camp Nou despite Gerard Pique's long-term injury.

Clement Lenglet, Ronald Araujo and Oscar Mingueza are all currently ahead of Umtiti when it comes to the centre-back positions, and the France international has been linked with a January exit.

The financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak has left Barca needing to offload players this month, and according to L'Equipe, Nice want to bring the centre-back back to Ligue 1.

Umtiti was a key player for his current club between 2016 and 2018 but has struggled with a number of injury problems in recent seasons.

This term, the World Cup winner has played just 55 minutes of football across three appearances.