Dayot Upamecano’s transfer to Premier League side in 2020 was scuppered by COVID-19

Prior to joining Bayern Munich, Dayot Upamecano had his eyes set on the little island off the northwest coast of Europe. That’s right, in the summer of 2020, a year before he joined the Bavarians, Upamecano was prepping for a transfer to join former Bayern manager Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.

That is according to his agent Volker Struth in a recent interview with Sport Bild. Struth was discussing (not his client) Erling Haaland’s likely €250-300 million transfer package in the summer of 2022 and brought up how difficult things on the transfer market has been for Bundesliga clubs. Then, he mentioned the failed transfers of his clients most due to COVID.

Upamecano was in discussions with Manchester City about a transfer a year and a half ago; however, those talks were scuppered thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was good news for Bayern that those plans fell through, because the club was able to snag the freshly-turned 23-year-old center-back this summer.

Two other transfers that fell through for Struth’s clients were Suat Serdar to Atlético Madrid and Philipp Max to Borussia Mönchengladbach.