Bayern chairman confirms battle with Chelsea and Liverpool for Dayot Upamecano

Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester United had been listed as potential suitors for Chelsea-linked Dayot Upamecano, though we can probably eliminate the latter thanks to talkative Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Rummenigge does appear to confirm that both Chelsea and Liverpool are very much in this fight, which also meshes with recent comments form Upamecano’s agent, Volker Struth.

“It’s no secret that there are two interested parties from the Premier League. A decision will be made and announced in the next few weeks.”

Unfortunately, that decision looks increasingly likely to be in Bayern’s favor, as one would certainly expect with any high profile Bundesliga transfer. Given the release clause, said decision is practically the player’s to make, and it sounds like he’s been well sold on the Bavarian behemoths.

“The release clause was agreed because the player decided to want to take the next step at some point. It is very likely in the summe. Nothing final has been decided yet [but] the chance of him leaving the club in the summer is high.”

“[Bayern director] Hasan Salihamidzic is really trying and has found the right temperature in the talks. There is not too much pressure in there. Nevertheless, it was emphasized that they are very interested in him.”

-Volker Struth; Source: Sport1 via Google Translate

Given the new Chelsea coaching staff’s connections with the Red Bull football machine — not just Tuchel himself, but his assistant, Zsolt Lőw, who was an assistant at RB Leipzig for three years, including for Upamecano’s first season and a half there — Chelsea might have a fighting chance yet.

But it sounds like Upamecano wants his future decided soon, so we better move quickly (like we did for Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech in the previous two winters).