Thomas Tuchel has been a big admirer of Dayot Upamecano ever since he was in charge of Borussia Dortmund, according to the Guardian.
Fabrizio Romano reported for the outlet that the Chelsea manager was a fan of Upamecano during his days in Germany.
The Blues have been heavily linked to RB Leipzig’s 22-year-old for some time but they are not the only European heavyweight interested.
Bayern Munich apparently led the race to sign Upamecano from their Bundesliga rivals, with Chelsea and Liverpool remaining in the hunt as well.
Rio Ferdinand described the central defender as ‘formidable’ when covering Leipzig’s Champions League tie versus Manchester United for BT Sport.
He will be available for a very reasonable fee of £37.7m (Guardian) despite his current contract with Leipzig running out in 2023.
Chelsea’s intentions in securing a centre-back have been very clear for a while. David Alaba, Niklas Sule, and Raphael Varane are just several of the names mentioned alongside Upamecano.
Bayern’s intrigue stems from the situation surrounding Alaba. The Austrian international will leave this summer but is yet to decide on his next destination.
Therefore, Upamecano has been lined up as a direct replacement for the departing Alaba.
Tuchel will have his own defensive reshuffling to do come the end of this season.
Thiago Silva has still not yet confirmed an extension on his current deal. Marc Guehi and Fikayo Tomori remain on loan at Swansea City and AC Milan respectively.
Both fan favourites so the Blues boss may want to tap into that as well.
The Chelsea Chronicle View
I think Chelsea need to let this transfer slide. Bayern will clearly get what they want, they usually always do.
We have ready-made options on our doorstep and who knows, with Tuchel’s new emphasis on youth, Tomori and Guehi might have a chance after all.
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