Dream of the world's best DF collapsed by injury...32-year-old Umtiti decides to retire from active duty
Sep 16, 2025
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Samuel Umtiti (France) has announced his retirement from active duty. Umtiti said on his SNS on the 16th (Korea time) that it is time to say goodbye to my career. There have been many ups and downs, but I have no regrets at all. 'Lyrics to all the clubs, officials, coaches, players who have been with me.'
Umtiti, a Cameroon-born French immigrant, made his professional debut for the second team in 2010 after playing for the Olympique Lyon youth team. He has been called up to the first team since 2012 when he was 19 years old and took the main position in 2014. For the next two seasons, he played as Lyon's main defender, drawing attention as the best French Ligue 1 defender. It was also expected that he would be reborn as the world's best defender in the future. As he wore the FC Barcelona uniform in the summer of 2016, Umtiti's career looked set to take off. In the two seasons since joining Barcelona, Umtiti has shown tremendous performances, proving why he is the world's most promising defender. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, he played as a key center back and contributed to France's victory and even lifted the World Cup trophy.
However, after the World Cup in Russia, Umtiti quickly went downhill. Umtiti, who played only 15 games due to a knee injury in the 2018-2019 season, has rarely been able to boost his condition, with a metatarsal fracture found and re-emerging. Since then, large and small injuries have continued. Ahead of the 2021-2022 season, Barcelona's leadership demanded Umtiti leave the team, but it was reported that the town hall bent its will to give it one more chance. French clubs, including their former team Lyon and Stade Rennes, showed interest in Umtiti, but the future was hardly resolved, with all of them expressing their intention to withdraw after confirming that they had already become 'glass bodies'.
Umtiti, who played well on loan to Lecce (Italy) in the 2022-2023 season, moved to Lille in the summer of 2023 and returned to the French stage. However, he also suffered ups and downs, not being able to take the main position due to injury and not playing a single game last season. Eventually, he left Lille due to the expiration of his contract ahead of the transfer window this summer, but no team reached out to him.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
