Arsenal and Manchester United set to battle it out for £50m-rated defender Dayot Upamecano
Arsenal and Manchester United are set to battle it out in the upcoming summer transfer window for £50m-rated RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano.
Both Premier League sides have been heavily interested in the signature of the Frenchman but the reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are also monitoring him.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND : Old Trafford stadium on December 26th, 2014 in Manchester, England. Old Trafford is home to Manchester United football club one of the most successful clubs in England
The 21-year-old has caught the eye with his performances for Julian Nagelsmann’s side and is seen as one of the best defensive prospects in the world.
The French under 21 international is aware of the interest in his services and is looking more likely to leave RB Leipzig in the summer.
He joined the German outfit from their partner club RB Salzburg in the winter of 2017 for a fee of £9m.
So far, the defender has made 25 appearances in all competitions, which is already more than he did last campaign.
The highly-rated centre back missed the majority of last season with a lot of injury problems most notably a knee injury that kept him out from January onwards.
The Gunners were still very close to signing the defender despite this, as they look to add some defensive reinforcements.
With William Saliba arriving in the summer, Mikel Arteta is looking to replace the older defenders such as David Luiz and Sokratis with younger players who have a very high ceiling.
Defensive reinforcements are heavily needed in the Emirates as they sit in a measly 10th place in the league with the second-worst goal difference in the top half of the table.
With transfer funds usually an issue for the Gunners, the potential departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette or Mesut Ozil could bring in some money that can help towards the signing of Upamecano.
Manchester United are in a similar position also, as they look to pair a defender with the most expensive defender of all time in Harry Maguire.
Both Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof have been inconsistent throughout their time at Old Trafford and Upamecano’s attributes can work well in tandem with Maguire’s.
However, Bayern Munich are also a dark horse in the race to sign the defender despite parting ways with £70m for Lucas Hernandez last year.
With Jerome Boateng getting older and past his peak, Lucas being heavily injury prone and Niklas Sule currently recovering from a long term injury, the league leaders could snap the Frenchman up from their title rivals – something they have been known to do.
