Chelsea, Man City enter talks to sign top-class Bayern star – who needs him more? | OneFootball

Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool have all held discussions over the potential signing of Dayot Upamecano from Bayern Munich, as per a report.

TBR state that Bayern are ‘really worried’ about Upamecano leaving for the Premier League as his contract expires in June. Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool are the frontrunners to bring him to the Premier League, and they have each spoken with Upamecano’s agent to gauge his interest in a move.

Bayern are trying to tie the centre-back down to a new contract before the end of the year but Premier League interest is putting them under severe pressure.

Dayot Upamecano future: What next?

Crystal Palace’s Guehi is widely regarded as the standout free agent signing, having announced his intention to leave Palace when his contract expires in June. But TBR claim Chelsea and City view Upamecano as a defender ‘in the same bracket’ as Guehi.

Further afield, Real Madrid and Barcelona are also ‘pondering moves’ for Upamecano.

TBR sources state that Upamecano ‘is more likely to stay than leave’, though Bayern are in a race against time to engineer his fresh terms. Under the Bosman rules, Upamecano will be free to speak with interested clubs from January 1 onwards.

Upamecano is a potential bargain signing

Bayern value the France star at €60million (£52.5m / $70m), though they will be powerless to stop him leaving if he snubs the offer of a new deal in Bavaria.

Upamecano currently earns a base salary of €192k (£168k / $224k) a week at Bayern. He knows he could take home far more at an English club.

Various outlets in Germany including Bild and Kicker have reported on Upamecano’s contract talks at Bayern and interest from top Premier League sides, so it is likely that TBR’s update is true.

Indeed, Chelsea joined the race for the player last week.

Upamecano’s future appears wedded to Guehi’s, as the same clubs are eyeing both players. Plus, Bayern could ramp up their interest in Guehi if they lose Upamecano.

With Chelsea and City both in the market for defensive recruits, we decided to take a look at which club needs Upamecano more…

Analysing Chelsea, Man City centre-half options

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca can currently use centre-backs Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jorrel Hato and Josh Acheampong. Levi Colwill is out for most of the season with an ACL injury, Benoit Badiashile should return in December, while Axel Disasi is not even in the first-team squad.

City manager Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, can utilise John Stones, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Abdukodir Khusanov and Nathan Ake in central defence.

While Chelsea have more centre-backs in their squad, there is good reason to suggest they would benefit more from Upamecano’s signing than City.

Fofana has had an injury-hit spell at Stamford Bridge and never seems to be far away from a long absence, while Chelsea have unsuccessfully tried to sell Chalobah in numerous transfer windows.

Chalobah could be put on the market again in 2026, as his sale would go down as pure profit on Chelsea’s books.

Hato is versatile but Chelsea see him as more of a left-back than centre-half.

These factors mean Upamecano could help replace Chalobah at Chelsea while also filling in for Fofana if he gets injured again.

City do have a need for a new defensive signing, but it is not quite as strong as Chelsea’s.

They may have to move on from Stones in the near future as he is injury-prone like Fofana and recently admitted he considered retiring last season.

Upamecano would be a great signing for Guardiola, though Dias and Gvardiol would be a brilliant centre-back pairing for City in the mean time.