Samuel Umtiti

Volkswagen


The defender photographed coming out his luxury SUV at the French national football centre is located in Clairefontaine.

Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, his family relocated to Villeurbanne, France, when he two years of age. He joined local football club Ménival at the age of five, and by nine he was admitted to Olympique Lyonnais' youth academy. After progressing through the youth ranks and featuring in Lyon's reserve team, he made his professional debut for the first-team for the club on 8 January 2012, playing 90 minutes in a 3-1 win over local rivals Lyon-Duchére in the Coupe de France. Six days later, he made his Ligue 1 debut in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Montpellier. His debut season yielded 18 appearances, and two trophies: Coupe de France and Tropheé des Champions. The following season the defender scored his first career goal in a 2-1 win over Troyes. He starred for Les Gones for five seasons between 2011-2016, becoming more and more vital to their defensive setup each passing year, altogether he made 170 appearances for before his eventual move to Spain. On 30 June 206, the Frenchman signed for La Liga club FC Barcelona for a fee of €25 million. He made his debut on 17 August, as Barça beat Sevilla 3-0 to lift the Supercopa de España. On 4 March 2017, he scored his first goal in a 5-0 hammering of Celta Vigo. In three seasons for the Blaugrana the French defender amassed 97 appearances, while embellishing his trophy cabinet with La Liga (2017/18, 2018/19) and Copa del Rey (2016/17, 2017/18). On the International stage, he starred for France as Les Bleu lifted the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The defender played a vital role, starring in defence, as well as scoring the only goal in France's victory over Belgium in the semi-finals.