Barcelona New Boy Samuel Umtiti Is No Weak Link for France

Adil Rami has cut an optimistic figure for France during Euro 2016, as well he might after a whirlwind end to the 2015-16 season.

From seeming like he was miles away from France manager Didier Deschamps’ set-up, via a historic Europa League win with Sevilla, all the way into Les Bleus’ XI. He even managed to get away with criticising Deschamps for originally overlooking him (as per RMC, reported here by L’Equipe, in French), a very similar offence to the one that saw Dimitri Payet cast out of contention for the best part of a year.

The centre-back was bullish again as he talked to a huddle of journalists at Parc OL, after enduring a tough match against Republic of Ireland in the last 16—during which he collected the yellow card that prevented him from playing against Iceland in the quarter-finals. “Yes, I’m thinking about the semi-final (already),” he told us. “I already see myself in Marseille. I have the right to, because I won’t be playing in the quarter-finals.”

The only problem with the Sevilla defender’s theory was that if France did arrive at Stade Velodrome for Thursday’s second semi with their hopes in the competition safe and sound, his chances of recouping his place in the XI always looked flaky.

After Sunday’s thumping win over Iceland that, for France’s defence at least, was the quintessential game of two halves, Rami has a chance of coming back in, but the smart money is on preserving the status quo against Germany.

Samuel Umtiti, who made his first France appearance against Iceland in Rami’s stead—not his first start, or his first competitive start, but his first appearance, period—is a player who is easy to believe in. He may be new to starting internationals, but Umtiti is far from being a greenhorn. At just 22, he’s already made 170 first-team appearances for Lyon and carries himself with true authority.

Umtiti’s not tall for a centre-back, standing a touch under six feet tall, but he’s known as "Big Sam" (as he’s been dubbed by Patrice Evra in the French squad, noted here by Lyon newspaper Le Progres, in French) for a reason. Many, internationally, presumed that the older Eliaquim Mangala would replace the banned Rami, but it appears that was never in Deschamps’ mind.

The coach has not been shy to invert the supposed natural order in marshalling his group at the Euro. In fact, he did so at Umtiti’s expense initially, calling up Rami when Raphael Varane pulled out, despite the fact that the Lyon defender was, unlike his Sevilla counterpart, already on the standby list and presumed to be the next cab off the rank.

Completely in character, Umtiti kept his own counsel, bided his time and was ready when the chance came. Having made his Lyon debut at 18, he has grown up in public; sometimes painfully, like back in 2013 when he endured a dressing-down from captain Maxime Gonalons for driving a new Maserati (complete with "Sam 23" personalised licence plate) to the club’s Tola Vologe training centre on the day after the team suffered a humiliating defeat at AC Ajaccio (as told by So Foot, in French, quoting L’Equipe).

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That sense of straightening things out in-house is a strong Lyon trait, at a club where the academy has typically been a central piece. Having learned his lesson, Umtiti had a comparable status to Gonalons by the time he agreed to join Barcelona last week. That he came from a similar football background to the one which the Spanish champions are known worldwide for has clearly played a part in their choice to recruit him.

On a technical level, Umtiti’s performance against Iceland showed the world that Barca had done their homework. He was by no means faultless, but the reaction to his display in Catalonia has been positive.

The most noticeable element of his match was in the distribution stats column. Umtiti attempted 76 passes, as per WhoScored.com, which is more than any of his three defensive colleagues; he completed 100 percent of those passes. Having taken the place of the injured Jeremy Mathieu in this tournament, it is not hard to imagine Umtiti swiftly doing the same at club level.

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The pair’s versatility is another thing that links them. Just as Mathieu originally came to prominence at Toulouse playing on the left side of midfield, Umtiti started out at Tola Vologe as a left-winger and frequently played left-back after breaking into the first-team—it’s from that position that he scored his most celebrated goal, a rocket against Tottenham in the Europa League.

The main difference between Umtiti and Mathieu is that by the time the former had made the senior side, he was always recognised as a specialist centre-back, though he could fill in elsewhere. That polish came through against Iceland, though the second half also underlined his willingness to put his foot through the ball where necessary. It’s a side of the game he has never shied away from.

“When I’ve made two passes and I’ve managed to take the ball out neatly, I’m happy,” he acknowledged in an interview with France Football earlier this year (in French). “But (being) a defender, it’s not just that. The job is to stop the opposition from scoring, to tackle if you have to, and to clear it into the stand if you need to.”

This pragmatism is exactly why he’s grown to be appreciated so quickly by his France team-mates. Who should start alongside Laurent Koscielny against Germany is an especially germane discussion before Thursday’s big encounter, because that second period against Iceland has planted a few seeds of doubt in French minds, almost overshadowing the ruthless first-half display that swept England’s conquerors aside.

Umtiti will wait if he has to, with the patience he has shown before. He already did in rejecting a series of advances from Cameroon, the country of his birth, including a personal approach by the legendary Roger Milla, who met Umtiti’s advisers, as per that France Football interview. He assented to that, he said, “out of politeness.”

There was never a doubt in his mind. “From the start, I wanted Les Bleus,” he said. Now Umtiti is there, maybe it is the start of the sort of defensive certainty that France have needed for a while.