Did Chelsea and Man Utd dodge a bullet? Upamecano labelled a flop at Bayern
FT Desk
- 14 Feb 2022 11:24 GMT
- 7 min read
Central defenders seem to be worth their weight in gold these days, with just about every major European club fighting to either keep hold of their star central centre back or splash the cash to sign a new one.
Last year Bayern Munich seemed to pull off a major transfer coup when they bought out RB Leipzig star Dayot Upamecano’s release clause to sign him for a cool €42.5 million.
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Both Chelsea and Manchester United were heavily linked with the player and were forced to consider other options in the following summer transfer window.
However, now almost a year on since Bayern beat their English rivals to the signing of the young defender it seems as though they may have made the wrong decision.
Upamecano’s poor start at Bayern
Signed to replace the departing Jerome Boateng and David Alaba, Upamecano arrived at Bayern with a high bar to clear. And for the most part the young French defender has struggled to do that.
Despite being a record signing for the Bundesliga giants, Upamecano has drifted in and out of Julian Nagelsmann’s side this season and has been benched seven times in all competitions.
The most recent came ahead of a tough clash against RB Leipzig, where Nagelsmann opted for other defenders instead of Upamecano.
He then brought the young defender back for this weekend’s clash against Bochum, only for the defender to give away a penalty with a handful in an embarrassing 4-2 defeat to the recently-promoted side.
As such, Upamecano hasn’t exactly won over too many fans at the club, with some pundits now suggesting that the defender simply hasn’t lived up to expectation.
"He's been here for seven or eight months now - how much time should you give him? He brings too little,” said Lothas Matthaus at an event on Monday, as per Sport1.
"Upamecano seems to wobble to me, Lucas Hernandez keeps creating fouls and is too slow in duels. The big goal is to win the Champions League. The defence has to increase significantly."
He added: "The price-performance ratio is not right for two players: Upamecano and Hernandez. You expect more. Upamecano hasn't arrived yet, he seems like a foreign body."
It seems as though Bayern may have overspent on the young prospect, which will definitely be music to the ears of Man Utd and Chelsea fans.
