Another Premier League club joins the race for Dayot Upamecano
The Frenchman has emerged as one of Europe's best defenders in recent seasons and is a man in high demand.
Dayot Upamecano is an unrivalled starter in Julian Nagelsmann’s team. Having recently signed a contract extension until 2023 – including a release clause, showing RB Leipzig’s foresight of his potential development and transfer in the near future.
Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff made it clear that the club would be more than willing to hear bids from interested clubs, for the right price. He said: “We have a squad that is very broad in terms of quality. So we will sell top performers again if it makes financial sense and we can cope with it from a sporting point of view.”
Top Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool have been regularly linked with a move for Upamecano this season, but there’s a new player in picture.
According to reports from Daily Mail, Chelsea are also considering luring the Frenchman to Stamford Bridge. The Blues are reportedly desperate to offload number of players including the likes of defenders Marcos Alonso, Fikayo Tomori and Antonio Rudiger. Dayot Upamecano would undoubtedly replace the evergreen Thiago Silva with ease, while the 36 year old Brazilian ages like fine wine and shows no signs of slowing down.
The center-back has a release clause in the region of €45-50 million, making his signing something of no-brainer for Europe’s top clubs. RB Leipzig considered the same amount to be set in Timo Werner’s contract before he moved to Chelsea for €53 million.
Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have already made their interest known.
Surprisingly, he does not appear on CIES Football Observatory’s top 100 most valuable players’ list, with Leipzig attacker Dani Olmo being the club’s only representative – possessing a market value of €60 million.
At only 22, Upamecano is already one of the best defenders around and is certainly poised for a glorious career ahead at the top level.