The 28-year-old defender is due to undergo a medical later today at Lecce, who won the Serie B title last season.

“Barcelona and Lecce of Italian Serie A have reached an agreement on the loan of defender Samuel Umtiti until June 30, 2023,” read a statement on the Barcelona website.

“There is no purchase option.”

Spanish sports paper Marca reported that Lecce and Barcelona will share his salary, but that Barca will get bonus payments depending on games played.

Umtiti is one of the players Barcelona wish to offload before the end of the transfer window on Sept 1 so they get under the pay cap and can register new signing Jules Kounde.

Umtiti played an important role in France’s World Cup triumph despite a troublesome knee.

He scored the only goal in the semifinal win over Belgium.

A succession of injuries saw him fall down the pecking order at Barcelona and last season played just once in December.

In January, he underwent an operation on a broken foot and in his six years since joining from Lyon, Umtiti has played just 133 times for Barcelona, scoring twice.

He still managed to win seven trophies including two La Liga titles and three Copas del Rey.

His international career has suffered too.

He made the last of his 31 appearances in a 2-0 loss to Turkey in 2019.

Lecce have lost their first two matches since their return to the elite for their 17th season in Serie A.