According to Diario Sport, Rennais coach Bruno Genesio, with whom the Frenchman worked at Lyon, wanted to see the defender in his team, but the player did not pass the medical examination. Because of that the transfer fell through and that was very disappointing for the Barcelona managers.
Now, to part with Umtiti, the Catalan club had one option – to terminate the contract with the payment of wages for the remaining four years on it.
The central defender joined Barcelona in July 2018, Lyon received 25 million euros for him.