Chelsea to focus on Upamecano as Real Madrid meet Alaba demands — reports

Chelsea will be looking to sign a centre back or two this summer, probably, and that means we’re going to be center to most centre back rumors around Europe. We’ve already seen this in effect quite strongly over the past few weeks, and we’re just in February!

One name often mentioned in conjunction with the Blues has been David Alaba, with some even positioning him as the our primary target, though whose wage demands we were not really ready to meet. But the probability of signing him was low anyways, with the 28-year-old preferring a move to Real Madrid.

Lo and behold, ESPN are now reporting that Real are willing to offer a salary close to what Alaba is expecting — just sign him already! — so any chances of him joining up with Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea has been ruled out. Liverpool have seemingly dropped out of the race as well, as Alaba apparently wants a contract worth £400,000 per week, and has already rejected an extension offer from his current club, Bayern Munich worth around £250,000-a-week including bonuses.

As per BILD (via Sport Witness & Bavarian Football Works), Chelsea have now (again?) made RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano our primary target, and we are more than willing to pay his €42.5m release clause. His sub-astronomical wages should not be a problem either. The report claims that we have held talks with his representatives — though it’s worth noting that the same agency also represent Niklas Süle, who’s also been linked already.

The Upamecano sweepstakes will be toughest of all however, with Bayern Munich seemingly well ahead and Liverpool also in the mix.

Should we manage to tempt Upamecano to the Bridge, he’d likely partner Thiago Silva in defense, with the futures of Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rüdiger and Fikayo Tomori all up in the air.