Although he was born in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde before moving to Lyon aged two, Samuel Umtiti has always felt French and never seriously considered playing for Cameroon. The Cameroon FA sent legendary player Roger Milla to Lyon last December to convince the new Barcelona signing to turn out for his country of birth, but his mind was already made up.
The player, his older brother and his mother met with Milla out of courtesy as he explained why the defender should give up on his dreams of wearing the blue of France.
“If he wants to play in a World Cup, he should join Cameroon now,” the 64-year-old former striker told the family.
“If he calls us in eight years we won’t want him then as there will already be players in his position.”
Despite the logical argument, Umtiti believed he could one day make the French national team and injuries to Raphael Varane and Jeremy Mathieu, along with the suspension of Mamadou Sakho, earned him a late call-up to Didier Deschamps’ squad on May 28.
Against Iceland he made his debut and, in doing so, any chance of him one day representing Cameron was ruled out.
On Sunday evening, his remarkable and rapid rise will continue as he faces Cristiano Ronaldo in a final just two months after a place in the France squad seemed unthinkable.
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