Bayern Munich, Chelsea battling over RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano

Earlier today, we ran a report in the Daily Schmankerl detailing that RB Leipzig is unwilling to sell defender Dayot Upamecano in this transfer window.

However, it appears that Bayern Munich and Chelsea are both pushing hard to land the French center-back next summer. In two separate reports, Bayern Munich is heavily linked to Upamecano.

First, Marca captured statements that Bild columnist Alfred Draxler made to Sport1. Draxler indicated that the Bavarians were in advanced talks with Upamecano:

“I know that Bayern have been in contact with Upamecano’s agent and that talks are advanced,” said Draxler.

Tz journalists Jonas Austermann and Manuel Bonke later also reported that Bayern Munich was having discussions with Upamecano:

#FCBayern gets in the poker for Leipzig’s Dayot #Upamecano, but there is serious competition from FC #Chelsea. Colleague @mano_bonke knows: FC Bayern are still ahead in the race for the central defender.

Bonke then chimed in with his confirmation:

Advantage #FCBayern: There has been contact to for a long time #Upamecano — and FC Bayern are currently the measure of all things in a European comparison. I’m curious to see in which direction this transfer will develop. #FCBTransfersommer

While Bayern Munich might be in the lead, Chelsea is clearly not afraid to throw around major loot in a bidding war. It can be safely assumed that Chelsea can easily afford Upamecano’s reported €42 million release — and could offer a more generous compensation package (salary and bonus) than Bayern Munich.

Upamecano also has former teammate Timo Werner at Chelsea, which may or may not be a factor in his thought process for a change. Regardless, there is certainly a lot of discussion on this potential move coming from multiple outlets.

Stay tuned...

Bonus Tin Foil Hat theory

Okay conspiracy theorists, this is probably way out there, but here me out — Chelsea is sick of getting bossed by Bayern Munich in the transfer game and is going to do whatever it takes to land Upamecano:

• The Bavarians easily pilfered Jamal Musiala and Bright-Arrey Mbi from Chelsea’s academy. Musiala looks like a burgeoning star, while Mbi is at least showing some potential on Säbener Straße. Both players were free transfers and Chelsea came away looking like it has no idea how to properly identify talent on its own campus.
• Bayern Munich recused itself from publicly bidding on Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, which set Chelsea up to overpay on two deals that it did not necessarily need or maybe even want, just because there was the loose threat of Bayern Munich swooping in for a late proposal hanging in the balance.
• Bayern Munich put so much pressure on Chelsea over the pursuit of Callum Hudson-Odoi that the London club prematurely gave the youngster a big deal that he probably did not yet earn. And now...Bayern is allegedly back and pounding on the door for Hudson-Odoi again!

Simply put, this is some major transfer market bullying and Chelsea is sick of having sand kicked in its face. The theory is that Chelsea will do whatever is needed to not let Bayern Munich win again.

Sure, that might sound like I’ve hit the Irish coffees already...but maybe I have!