Newcastle United have been offered the chance to take Barcelona's Samuel Umtiti on loan on favourable terms, according to The Chronicle's Lee Ryder. 

The lowdown

Newcastle are trying to secure the signings of two centre-backs in the form of Lille's Sven Botman and Sevilla's Diego Carlos, but the 28-year-old could perhaps be an alternative option.

The Frenchman joined Barcelona from Lyon ahead of the 2016/17 season and made 25 league appearances in each of his first two campaigns (via WhoScored), but that dropped to 14 in 2018/19 and 13 in both of the subsequent two seasons. This year, he has featured just once in La Liga.

A succession of injuries, including a series of knee problems, has played a significant part in his limited involvement.

The latest

Posting a link to his piece in The Chronicle via his Twitter feed, Ryder stated: "Magpies offered cash incentive to take Barcelona star"

Barcelona have made it clear that they are willing to pay a portion of the defender's £16m-a-year wages, something which Ryder claimed 'could appeal to Newcastle should they go ahead with the deal'.

The verdict

Umtiti boasts a pretty enviable CV. He has won 10 major trophies at senior level, most notably the 2018 World Cup and two La Liga titles.

On an individual level, he featured in the FIFPro World XI second team in 2018, which indicates that he was deemed one of the four best centre-backs on the planet that year. Former Batcelona team-mate Lionel Messi has also spoken highly of him off the pitch, describing him an 'excellent person'.

However, it's simply too big a risk for relegation-threatened Newcastle to bank on a massively reimbursed player who's been hit so hard by injuries and played so little football of late.

In other news, Nick Hammond is also interested in this potential signing