UMTITI: "ONLY GOD KNOWS WHEN I'LL RETURN..."

      

      Barcelona center back and French World Cup winner Samuel Umtiti has been hampered by a knee injury since April 2018.
       The center back went through the World Cup without the necessary surgery on his knee ligaments and continued to play throughout the first month and a half of the La Liga season, re-injuring himself in October. Then, in a complete act of idiocy, Barca manager Ernesto Valverde threw Umtiti back into the fray, after 2 and a half months out, against Atletico Madrid.
       Umtiti courageously played the full 90 minutes in a cagey 1-1 draw and we haven't seen the Frenchman since.
       We've seen him play through the knee injury without the surgery he desperately needs for nearly a year now, with Samuel undergoing "conservative treatment" and rehab in Qatar with the Barcelona specialists, all in the hopes he can mend his knee without needing surgery.
       This gamble has already frustrated the World Cup star to the point he now readily admits, as he did to Madrid based newspaper Marca, that he "doesn't know when" he'll play again.
       Crucial time has been lost: Umtiti should've been forced by the Barcelona bosses to undergo surgery on the knee immediately following the World Cup.
       We didn't do that.
       Then, after the reoccurring knee injury plagued him with a 3 month absence in October, we should've already booked his surgery after the mistake of letting him start the season injured.

        Instead, we plugged him straight into the lineup again, with the same treatments and rehab on his knee as he's doing right this very second.
        We've been hearing shocking rumors of Umtiti's knee cartilage being worn down to the point surgeons have compared it to the knees of 30+ year old players.
         Umtiti is only 25.
         It's a very scary situation the Barcelona defense finds themselves in. While (almost) every effort has been made to sign players who can soak up the pressure until he returns, it does send our club into a limbo where we're not willing to invest top dollar for an equal player of Umtiti's quality to replace him, yet we've signed a few players capable of keeping the ship afloat (Lenglet has been solid, Murillo is a new signing and has experience, Vermaelen has always been reliable when he actually can play).
          But with this current roster in the middle of defense in Umtiti's absence, it may not be enough to win the Champions league.
         Umtiti's importance can only be shown by this statistic: 
      Barcelona have allowed 28 goals this season already: in the entirety of last season, with Umtiti, Barcelona gave up 26 goals....Umtiti being MIA is a crucial blow to this Barcelona side that could achieve incredible heights.