FC Barcelona legend Eric Abidal has praised one of the Blaugrana's new players, believing he will become the "black Franz Beckenbauer".
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The former France international feels the Catalan club has a real gem in the defender they recently signed from Olympique Lyon, Samuel Umtiti, and insisted that the young centre back can become an even better player than he was back in the day.
"Umtiti is much better than Abidal – he will be the black Beckenbauer at Barca," Abidal told RAC 1.
"I'm surprised how quickly he'd adapted. It's not taken him long to take on the club's philosophy, style of play and mentality… It took me six months, much longer than him.
"He's brilliant at bringing the ball out and calm when in high risk situations. We've already seen that at Lyon.
"I'm convinced that, as time passes, he'll be much better than me."
The 22-year-old has made six appearances for the Catalan giants so far this season, but unfortunately picked up an injury this week.
Do you think the young Frenchman can become one of the best centre backs in the world? Have your say in the comments section below.
