Samuel Umtiti has endured a difficult summer at Barcelona.
The days of starting in the 2018 World Cup final and regularly featuring for the Blaugrana feel distant now that the Frenchman has essentially been exiled at Camp Nou.
A series of injuries have long since stifled Umtiti's development in Catalonia and rumours have been abound for multiple transfer windows that Barcelona are keen to get him off their books.
Umtiti's Barcelona exile
Nevertheless, despite starting just six games either in La Liga or the Champions League last season, Umtiti looks set to remain on the Barcelona books with another two years on his contract.
It remains unconfirmed whether or not Umtiti has been asked to reduce his salary or tear up his agreement, but it's clear that his situation has a close connection to Barcelona's financial woes.
And according to Football Espana, it's a sensitive scenario that has seen Umtiti receive repeated boos as well as 'vile abuse' from the Camp Nou faithful.
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A top-class defender
Hopefully both the player and club can come to an amicable agreement in the weeks to come because there's no denying that Umtiti is a top-class central defender when he's fully fit.
And that couldn't be more apparent when you look back at his prime because the World Cup winner was never far away from a top-class performance during his pomp with Lyon and France.
In fact, the Cameroon-born defender also had an underrated eye for goal that you wouldn't necessarily appreciate just by looking at his Wikipedia page, which only lists a grand total of 11 career strikes.
Umtiti's worldie vs Tottenham
Nonetheless, anyone who remembers Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 win over Lyon during the 2012/13 Europa League season will be acutely aware that Umtiti knows where the back of the net is.
Actually, that would be something of an understatement because the thunderous finish that he produced at White Hart Lane is one of the most aesthetically-pleasing goals of all time.
As such, there could be no greater incentive to reflect on a goal of pure beauty, so check it out down below:
Go on... you know you want to watch it again. Click that replay button.
So aesthetically pleasing
There's just something about certain goals and the way they ripple the net that just makes you want to watch them over and over and over again. Umtiti's goal against Tottenham is a prime example.
And arguably the only goal that looks even better on the eye actually came from one of his France teammates because Benjamin Pavard's volley against Argentina was truly one for the ages.
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Admittedly, Pavard probably takes the prize when it comes to the battle of the French volleys, but there's no denying that Umtiti outdid himself with a goal made all the better by the camera angle.
Sadly, it seems doubtful that the 27-year-old will have the chance to replicate those heroics at Barcelona, but he's destined for a renaissance wherever his career takes him in the years to come.