Manchester United are reportedly considering a summer move for RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano, having failed to sign him in 2015.
As per a report from the Daily Mirror, Premier League giants Manchester United are plotting a summer raid on German Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig for the signing of centre-back Dayot Upamecano.
Manchester United have been on the lookout for a new central defender since the last summer window. The Red Devils were linked with a string of players all through the summer window, but no move materialized back then. There were reports of the club planning to sign a defender in January as well, but there were no incomings at Old Trafford last month either.
However, the 20-time English champions are believed to be prioritizing the signing of a centre-back next summer, irrespective of who is the manager of the club at the time. And they have identified Upamecano as a potential target four years after having failed to sign him.
A product of the Valenciennes youth academy, Upamecano left to join RB Salzburg in 2015, rejecting a number of European heavyweights including Manchester United. The player’s agent, Thierry Martinez, confirmed that the Red Devils were close to signing him in a £2 million deal, but the transfer collapsed due to certain failed promises from the club’s end.
Speaking to So Foot (h/t Mirror), the agent said: “An intermediary met with us, but between the project she presented us and what was actually going to happen. A flat was promised, but that changed to a host family with only six return trips for his parents.
“When you uproot a player at such a young age, that isn’t enough. I wanted Dayot to have a stable emotional balance off the pitch.”
After spending two years with Salzburg, Upamecano made the switch to Germany joining RB Leipzig in 2017, where he has grown into one of the finest young defenders across Europe. The 20-year-old has gone on to make 73 appearances for the Bundesliga outfit till date, twenty of which have come in the ongoing season.
Upamecano is contracted with Leipzig till the summer of 2021 and has a release clause of £88 million, which Manchester United will have to trigger, if they are land him the next transfer window.
Kalidou Koulibaly reportedly remains the primary target for Manchester United, while they were very recently advised by former player Wes Brown to make a move for Real Madrid superstar and World Cup winning defender Raphael Varane.
The arrival of a new centre-back at Old Trafford in the next transfer window seems like a certainty. But, it remains to be seen which target do the club decide to pursue in the bid to bolster their backline.
