Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has been accused of sending Samuel Umtiti out to warm up for the sole purpose of getting him booed by fans.
It's been a rough summer for Barcelona, with the departure of the club's all time leading goal scorer Lionel Messi proving just how bad their financial situation is.
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It took Gerard Pique agreeing to lower his wages in order for new signings Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia to be registered in time for the start of the season.
Other players have also been urged to take pay cuts, with Jordi Alba's reluctance to do so annoying some at the club, and Barca have tried to get some of their unwanted players off the books.
That has proved tricky in some cases and so far Umtiti is amongst those who don't want to leave the Nou Camp, despite being told by Koeman he is not in the manager's plans.
On Sunday, during Barca's 2-1 win over Getafe, the centre back was told to warm up in the second half and was roundly booed by fans. Breaking the Lines creator, and writer, Zach Lowry, accused the Dutchman of purposely getting Umtiti a negative reaction.
The treatment of the 27-year-old is extremely harsh by the fans, it's not his fault that the club are in financial disarray and he has no obligation to lower his wages.
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Their anger should really be towards the club, and they clearly are still annoyed that Messi has had to leave.
If the claims that Koeman would send Umtiti out just to try and force him to leave the club seem strong, then it's worth remembering the former Netherlands boss does have previous.
Former Everton striker Oumar Niasse has previously accused the 58-year-old of forcing him out of the club, when the pair were both at Goodison Park.
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Niasse said that Koeman took away his squad number, forced him to eat away from the first team and didn't even give him a locker to put his things in.
Featured Image Credit: PA/ESport3Topics: Football, La Liga, Ronald Koeman, Barcelona, Samuel Umtiti
