Transfer News: Chelsea target Dayot Upamecano is not for sale
According to SkySportDE (via @Sky_Marc) (via Florian Plettenberg) (h/t Football. London), Bayern Munich have made it very clear that Chelsea target Dayot Upamecano is not for sale this summer.
Chelsea were said to be interested in Upamecano believing that they would be able to sign the Frenchman if Bayern Munich end up signing Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus, another player that the Blues are interested in. However, it has emerged that the 23-year-old is not available this summer.
Upamecano is highly regarded as one of the best young centre-backs in the world and rightly so because the talented Bayern man possesses exceptional talent. He has been highly regarded ever since his time at Leipzig with the Frenchman forming an exceptional partnership with Ibrahima Konate.
The 23-year-old centre-back joined Bayern from Leipzig in 2021 and has impressed during his first season at Munich. There is absolutely no reason for Bayern Munich to sell the talented defender a year after signing him and this seems to be a futile chase from Chelsea.
The French centre-back played 38 games for the Bundesliga champions last season scoring one goal and providing six assists across all competitions. That assist number is pretty impressive for a centre-back and it shows how influential he was to the Bavarians.
Chelsea’s pursuit for centre-backs has been dragging on and on for quite some time now and it is reaching a point where it is getting extremely frustrating when no breakthrough is achieved. It is no secret that we need central defenders this summer and quality ones.
Thomas Tuchel knows the gaping holes he has to fill in the form of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, two mainstays who have left for Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. He will certainly have a plan but it is still not evident as to what he is thinking.
Ever since the German became the coach at Stamford Bridge, he has preferred to play with a back three and if he continues to intend on doing so next season as well, then he will need to have enough centre-backs in the squad to play these roles.
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It remains to be seen if Thomas Tuchel is forced into a change of system due to Chelsea’s inability to sign new centre-backs. There is absolutely no doubt that the Blues will sign someone but we still have to wait to find out who that will be.