Samuel Umtiti has made his way back from Qatar where he’s been receiving ‘conservative’ treatment on a knee injury but the latest update is not good.

According to Sport, he has been examined by medical staff who are not too happy with what they’ve seen, and he’s not expected to join in with the team’s first training session after the winter break tomorrow.

In fact the report reckons that Barcelona are now “convinced” there is no way Umtiti will be able to avoid surgery to fix his current injury problems.

However, Umtiti will only go under the knife as a last resort, and it seems there’s a way to go before we reach that point.

The French defender has made only six La Liga starts this season because of the problem, and his last outing was back in November in the 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona have already moved to bring in Jeison Murillo on loan from Valencia as they seek extra cover at the back with Thomas Vermaelen out again.

There had been reports earlier in the week that Umtiti was targeting a return against his former side Lyon in the Champions League last 16 in February.

However, the latest update suggests Umtiti is unlikely to recover without an operation which is likely to rule him out for a significant period.